


Stain's Will Keeps Pushing

by Zy_Khrymzynn



Series: Change the World, or Die Trying. [1]
Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Again sort of, Apples, BAMF Midoriya Inko, Bakugou Katsuki is a slightly nicer person, Canon-Typical Violence, Chatting and messaging, Chess Metaphors, Costumes, Dabi is Todoroki Touya, Dabi is a Todoroki, F/M, Genius Midoriya Izuku, Manipulation, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku gets the Death Note let's find out what happens, Mind Games, Murder, Sort Of, Supernatural Elements, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku, Villain Midoriya Izuku, emphasis on slightly, grey morality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 51
Words: 161,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23358571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zy_Khrymzynn/pseuds/Zy_Khrymzynn
Summary: Midoriya Izuku used to worship heroes. He wanted to be one, but he didn't have a quirk. This is how the normal anime goes, right?But what if his mother was an administrator at a hero agency, and what if he actually put in work to be a hero beforehand thanks to a radio interview? What if he took off the rose-tinted glasses he somehow has? And, more importantly, what if he has a Death Note?or:Midoriya Izuku loses his hero worship, but gains a Death Note.P.S: You don't need to read/watch either Death Note to read this. Obviously watch/read it, it's good and it's more context, but you can still enjoy it :)
Relationships: Akaguro Chizome | Stain & Midoriya Izuku, Dabi & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku & Ryuk (Death Note), Midoriya Izuku & Takami Keigo | Hawks, Midoriya Izuku & Tokoyami Fumikage, Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako, Midoriya Izuku & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Takami Keigo | Hawks & Tokoyami Fumikage
Series: Change the World, or Die Trying. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772263
Comments: 336
Kudos: 785





	1. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stain is an influential figure, and more importantly, he's the figure a certain Midoriya Izuku needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, Underlined text is English. I don't think I've used that before so... just so you know. It could probably be assumed from the context, but w/e.
> 
> Anyway so I binge-watched Death Note (25 episodes at once) and wrote this all at once as well just after without any sleep. I finally got some sleep and edited this story.
> 
> There will be some heavy shit in this story. You have been warned. Now enjoy a story that hopefully mixes the best parts of BNHA and Death Note together.

Midoriya Izuku had taken to walking at night. He didn’t know why he did it, maybe it was the comforting cloak of night, the stark variations in the bright streetlight and the darkness between. Maybe it’s a place where he could avoid the endless reports from the news media, endless reports of heroes taking down villains, heroes saving people from buildings. He’s one of the biggest hero fans out there, but even he thought it was a bit excessive. maybe it was a place where he could be free from the oppressive bullying from Kacchan, free from… his mother? He hadn’t thought of his mother as someone to fear, but she was always coddling him, even though he was fourteen years old at this point. He knew his mother was a higher-up manager in some hero agency, so maybe there’s some paranoia going on there. Honestly he didn’t know exactly what’s going through his mother’s head. Hell, he had to sneak out just to go on this walk-run-whatever this was. He honestly had no idea what exactly it was.

But he knew about what he was doing, it was training to be a hero. He had stumbled across an interview, one of the only ones of it’s kind that exists. There was an interview with Present Mic on his radio show where he had an exclusive interview with Eraserhead. Sure it was only aired once, at 1am on a Tuesday, and never aired again, but in the interview, Eraserhead said that to become a hero, people needed to put in actual work.

And because of that, he decided to change. He started running, building up his endurance bit by bit. In retrospect it seemed so obvious. He had wanted to be his hero all his life, but he hadn’t really done any _work_ towards his goal besides his Hero Analysis notebooks, which were useful, sure, but it was just the first step. He felt stupid, in retrospect, for not thinking about this sooner. Pursuing his dreams to be a hero beyond the state of dreams.

That had also extended to his middle school. Sure he was still being bullied, but _something_ had made him go beyond, and he actually started trying in his classes. Previously he had been intentionally not doing as well as he should’ve been, in order to stay below Kacchan. But somewhere along the line he decided to no longer hide his true talent, and he took the top spot by midterms. Sure Kacchan had gotten angry at him because he had passed him and taken the top spot in their school. Sure it was difficult, Kacchan wasn’t an idiot by any means, there was a reason he was top grades in the class for a reason, after all.

Emphasis on “Was”.

His last parent-teacher conference was apparently about his current homeroom teacher Akugara-sensei complaining to his mother about “All this talent being wasted on a quirkless kid.” He hated always being called the quirkless kid. It was like everything else he was didn’t matter. Sure he was top of his class in every subject, (Well nearly every subject, Kacchan still was better than him at PE, which is to be expected.) but all that people saw in him was his lack of a quirk.

Well he’ll show them.

He heard a shout coming from a nearby alleyway, knocking him out of his funk, followed by a scream and some guy beginning a rant. Not knowing what to do, he ran in the direction of the scream. What did he care that he could die? It’s not like he lived a good life anyways.

When he finally stumbled across the scene, he encountered a guy covered in scarves and knives, dressed in red and grey cloth with silver spikes and brown knife holders, standing over a hero. Izuku couldn’t recognize the hero, but the skintight costume in white, black, purple, and pink in crazy patterns couldn’t be anything but a hero’s costume. 

“Now, fake hero, your crimes have been realized. You say you’re a hero, yet you steal from civilians and cover up for other heroes. I’m sorry Zylien, but you must not be allowed to live.” And with that, the mysterious villain stabbed down into the hero’s (apparently named Zylien) neck, killing the hero and spraying blood everywhere. It should’ve shocked Izuku to the core, he should be running away screaming, yelling for the police, or _something_ . But instead of doing that he just stood there, frozen, looking as the hero beneath him. “Goodbye, _fake_.”

And that’s when this villain looked up. Izuku jolted, but still remained in place. What did he have to say?

“You won’t report this, will you?”

“D-did t-this Zylien a-actually d-do w-what you s-said?” He asked, trembling and shivering. He _had_ tried presenting himself with more confidence, but all that fell away from the sheer _presence_ that this mysterious villain with the knives. Izuku didn’t know how to explain the aura that they emitted.

“Of course he did. Leader of his own little ring. I’m Stain, by the way.” The Now-identified Stain said. “What’s your name young one?”

“I’m-I’m M-midoriya I-Izuku. N-nice to m-meet you.” The threatening aura this Stain was exuding had faded away to almost nothing, but Izuku was still scared. He was in an alleyway with a villain, A villain the heroes haven’t caught yet!

“Well Midoriya. I’ll spare you for now. I don’t want to kill you, I only want to kill the fake heroes, but don’t make me have to kill you.” and with that scary and terrifying thought, Stain ran off faster than Izuku thought humanly possible. He ran home as fast as he could.

The first thing he did when he got home (aside from avoiding his mom when he snuck back in and dodged questions about why he was so sweaty. Sure he disliked lying to his mom, but she would _never_ allow him to start running not behind her back, or who he encountered on his run/walk thing.), was open his computer on his usual settings, a decent VPN and a different browser, and started looking up information on Stain. And boy there was a lot, despite him being a pretty hidden villain. One of the more popular theories floating around the forums that Stain was the vigilante Stendhal, known for killing villains. He couldn’t uncover information about this Hero Killer’s quirk, but he figured out that it allowed Stain to paralyze someone.

But what he was most interested in was the ideology of the Hero Killer. It was something that he had heard the villain say something about “Fake Heroes” in society. Ahd he saw all sorts of essays written by Stain and other Stain fanatics about the meaning of what being a hero even means. Sure they were all written anonymously, but he read through quite a few of them. This was apparently something that people had put a lot of thought into. He had wanted to reject this, because he liked all the heroes! But the essays all explained how the hero system was broken. And all of them made sense, but Stain and his fanatics weren’t looking far enough. Everyone was fake, or nearly everyone. Nobody wanted to “rock the boat”, as it were, and thus the system became more and more unbalanced.

He wasn’t sure how he had gotten this great epiphany. It was as if all the information he had required were the puzzle pieces in front of him, and all he had to do was see the pattern, connect one puzzle piece to the other, until a whole picture was formed. Well it was more like he had the first pieces put together for him, but that allowed him to put the pieces together to see the picture. It wasn’t a pretty picture, far from it. It was an ugly, nasty picture, smelly and disgusting, but gilded in gold. People walked along the gold, admiring its beauty but not caring enough (or at all) to dig beneath the paper-thin layer of gold. Being born in the nastiness and the ugliness, he had never seen the gild in the first place.

For once, he fell asleep energized, excited for what the new day would bring.

“Today’s english reading is from the book, ‘A collection of lessons’ by Harold Bakerson. Midoriya, would you care to do the first reading?”

He _knew_ the english teacher, Kizuki-sensei, was singling him out. He knew that she and everyone else, including Kacchan, (especially Kacchan in fact) was waiting for him to fail. But he hadn’t gotten a 99.7% on the last English exam for nothing, after all.

“And Cameron Degard was granted the Touch of God. With this power, he could see when someone would die. He used this power to become a great oracle, creating a church in the center of the largest city of Kades-Kat. But of course people didn’t trust him, that was until he announced the death of King Zekas-Kal as it was happening, and then people came far and wide. But despite all he could see, there was one number he could not see, his own. So he didn’t see the old oracle who snuck into his room and stabbed him. And thus, Cameron Degard met an early end.” He said, making sure to say each syllable carefully. Sure it was a bit slower than a natural English speaker, but he thought it was pretty good. He ignored the stares of his classmates as he sat down. Apparently they were still unused to him being a good student.

“Good job Midoriya, now can anyone tell me about the central lesson of the story. A few people scattered across the room (including Kacchan) raised their hands. He didn’t. Not because of a lack of knowledge about the themes of the story. There were _several_ lessons that could be gleaned from the short piece, some were good and some weren’t as good, such as the fact that unnatural powers often had you discriminated against, or the fact that _difference_ was disintegrated against, or just that managing your power, keeping it a secret, not announcing it, all that stuff. And then there was planning, contingencies, all of that. He had started recording _different_ information in his notebooks, rather than how amazing the quirks of the heroes he wrote down where, he worked on breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of heroes _and_ villains, as well as working on ways to defeat them without a quirk, just with his own physical strength and maybe some tools that he could use to gain more advantage. Sure it was exhausting, but he would do _anything_ to be a hero, so of course he would put in the hard work.

“Ah Suzuki, what do you think is the main lesson of this story?” Their teacher called on a girl whose hair was floating around, twisting and turning with ethereal grace. “The main theme is that you shouldn’t try to do anything great, because then you’ll get targeted by everyone!”

Huh, that was one way of thinking about it. A stupid way, one that teaches a bad lesson, but it _was_ indeed a way to interperet the lesson. And then there was a major class discussion about this. He didn’t care for that interpretation, so he just looked out of the window.

A black notebook fell from… somewhere, turning in the air and landing neatly on the ground. Huh, he really should take a look at that. English was his last class before school was out. If it was someone’s school notebook, he could return it to whoever it was, be a normal, everyday hero to someone. Be a good person, how cool does that sound?

He ran out of the room as soon as he could. Thankfully his seat was slightly closer to the door then Kacchan was, so leaving was pretty easy. It was the advanced math class where he had to worry.

Eh, he’ll worry about that later. For now, he had this rather interesting notebook to take a look at. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter, Midoriya finds out what exactly the notebook is all about.


	2. Happenstance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midorya thinks that the Death Note is just some edgy artist's notebook. He quickly learns that it's definitely not that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect chapters to be written this fast. I just so happened to get this done quickly. Hopefully I wrote this well :)

He made his way down to the ground level, going to the field where the notebook had fallen. People seemed to be ignoring it, like it was trash or something. But he was different, had always been so, so he picked up the notebook. It was a plain black notebook that was fairly thin. He turned it over, and “Death Note” was written on the top section of the notebook, white letters starkly standing out against the dull black of the notebook. What is “Death Note?” Is this some sort of edgy notebook you’d buy at Hot Topic or something like that? He opened it up to reveal that there was no name within it, and instead on the other side of the cover page there were… rules? What the hell is this? He read the words to himself, sneaking off to a secluded corner of the park he was in, taking a look at the rules. They were written in English, which was interesting, as this was Japan. But this could be a notebook from an American tourist. The Americans acted edgy, or at least they seemed to act like they were.

The human whose name is written in this note shall die. 

Well then, that’s… different. This is a different type of edgy.

This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. 

Wait. This seems too… specific for something that’s a joke. Unless it’s a _really_ edgy joke. Or just like a prank. Yeah it’s probably a prank. Well let’s read on.

If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. 

If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. 

Heart attack? That’s a very specific way to die. The combination of the words written in a strange font, the strange way these words are written, and a strange and spooky aura coming from the book makes this _much_ more than just an emo notebook.

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. 

Again with the specific times, and what exactly does “details of the death” mean? What is this? What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck? In a world with quirks, such a book was _possible,_ certainly, but… there was no way such a book existed. It’s powerful, and nearly everyone he knew would take advantage of the power, use it to rank up higher in the social ladder, scrabbling for a bit of purchase.

But of course this book could be a fake. He would need to test it out on someone he wouldn’t mind seeing dead, like a despicable villain.

He found what he was looking for an hour later, sitting with his mother watching television. It was the small amount of family time they could enjoy before she needed to make dinner and he needed to study. UA was an elite school, after all, and he would need top marks to even have a chance at attending, to make up for his probably lacking scores in whatever the practical exam was. Because it’s a hero school, so of course his lack of a quirk would make it much more difficult.

“Breaking news, Thanks to the hero All Might, a child sexual assaulter named Nitiro Kagayami was captured yesterday.” The news announcer, a smartly dressed woman with shiny metallic silver hair and gleaming gold eyes and coppery skin, said. A picture of the guy appeared on the screen. ‘A face and their real name, that’s what this book says I need, right?” He surreptitiously pulled out the notebook, hidden inside Hero Analysis for the Future Number 11, and wrote down the guy’s name while picturing the wretched guy’s face he saw on the screen. This was a live story, so he could get an update in real-time. 40 seconds? That’s what the notebook said, right? He looked at the watch he had been given, a final gift from his dad. He finished writing at exactly the twenty-second mark at 4:12 P.M., meaning that at exactly 4:13 P.M. on the dot, the child molester should die by a heart attack. Maybe that’s too good for him, but whatever.

Fifteen seconds left, the guy was trussed up in chains, quirk suppressant handcuffs on, being led along by the police to a nearby police van, All Might having already taken off after ensuring the villain was secured. Ten second left. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero.

The moment he mentally said “Zero.”, the guy writhed around in the capture device, gripping and grabbing at his chest, the device released and paramedics came over to examine him. “A shocking development! Nitiro Kagayami appears to have collapsed in the middle of the street. Now we go to Hokiyo Jikori, who is now in the field.”

The scene then switched to a very boring-looking man who had black hair and dull brown eyes. “Thank you Tadashi. Paramedics have informed me that Nitiro Kagayami suffered a sudden heart attack. The cause of the heart attack has not been confirmed, but is believed to be quirk-related. Police are already asking for quirk identification from onlookers, but most police and heroes are baffled. Back to you, Tadashi.”

The scene then switched back to the news studio. “Thank you Hokiyo. We will be following this story carefully for future updates. Stay tuned to Channel 43 News for future updates.”

Izuku couldn’t move. He looked down at the notebook. It was completely blank, save for the name Nitiro Kagayami written neatly in both English letters and Kanji. The instructions inside and the title were both written in English, but he wrote in both just to be sure.

But this could be coincidence, right? It just so happened that this guy had a heart attack when he wrote down this name. He didn’t know anything about this Nitiro Kagayami. Maybe he had a weak heart, or other underlying heart issues, like diabetes or hypertension or genetics, and the stress of capture triggered it. This could also be an example of confirmation bias, where he _wanted_ to see this notebook work, out of some sick power fantasy. He needed a second example, and maybe even a third. Because as the saying goes; Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.

So he needed a pattern.

For some reason, the thought that he was killing people was lost on him. He would only kill villains that committed despicable actions. When looking at unique quirks all around the world, he found that there’s a Chinese hero called Yanluo Wang who’s quirk, Death Touch, means that he can instantly kill whoever he touches. People hated him for such a villainous quirk, but he persevered and became a hero. The IPHSA and Jiyang jointly gave him blanket permission to kill criminals he fights, if they are wanted for major enough crimes. If someone with the power to murder whatever he touches can be a hero, why can’t he be a hero with his Death Note? Sure he’ll work from the shadows, but if he publicly revealed the Death Note, it would most certainly get taken away from him.

“Izuku, honey.” His mother spoke up from beside him. “I’m exhausted after today’s work. Could you be a dear and get me some chocolate from the corner store? There’s money and pepper spray on the counter.”

“Of course, mom.” He said. His mom sometimes wanted chocolate from the corner store, so every so often he would get some for her. The pepper spray was police-grade, something he could use for self-defense without a quirk. He got up, making sure to conceal the Death Note in the ordinary notebook he hid it in, and grabbed the money and pepper spray. He often did carry a Hero Analysis notebook with him, so it wasn’t _too_ out of character for him to have a notebook with him.

His mother liked Yuraku Seika’s Black Thunder chocolates the most, so that’s what his end goal was to acquire. Sometimes the nearest konbini, which was a seven-eleven, had them, sometimes it did not. It’s a fun gamble. And he brought the Death Note because why not, he might find someone as a target for the Death Note. They probably won’t be as bad as Nitiro Kagayami, but there are very few people that are as bad as that man was.

As he was browsing the shelves of the 7-11, he heard someone yell out from outside. Because that type of shouting would only be from a fight. So he ran over to a window where he could see the fight. There was a skinny-looking man shaking and flanked by two big burly men grabbing his arms. The third figure was a woman with jet-black hair and a scowl. “You said you would give me my money by yesterday, Kirito. So where is it?”

“I’m-I’m sorry Hayumi Keiji, I-I was robbed y-yesterday a-and lost 12000 yen. I’ll have the r-rest of y-your money by t-tomorrow I-I promise!” He said feebly.

“You tellin’ me you can’t bring up 12000 yen? Well I’ll just kill you then.”

Thank you Kirito for this gangster’s name. He took out his Death Note surreptitiously and wrote down “Hayumi Keiji” and this time he decided to add a method of death. “Accidental death.” He wasn’t sure exactly what that would mean, but if this Death Note was real and not a scam, then some sort of accident would befall this Hayumi Keiji in about 35 seconds.

“W-wait. I-I have an emergency fund! I’ll just get the money from that!”

“There’s an ATM down the road, let’s head over there!” The gangster woman said. The ATM that she mentioned was still within his line of sight, so he didn’t have to leave the 7-11 to see if the Death Note actually did work. Fifteen seconds left. The gangster yelled out something he couldn’t hear, and then began to storm away in anger. Five seconds left. A truck came careening out of nowhere, and then crashed into her when she wasn’t paying attention.

He froze. So the Death Note most certainly _did_ work. And “accidental death” meant that there was some sort of accident that resulted in their death. Seemed obvious in hindsight. But that means the Death Note actually works.

Holy shit that means he has the power of life and death in his hands. Maybe then he could work to achieve Stain’s dream of a better society with the Death Note.

But he has to plan this out with expert precision, as well as explore what exactly he can do with the Death Note. There’s already suspicion over his first kill.

He bought two Black Thunder chocolate bars, and went home. There wasn’t anything here he really wanted so he didn’t get anything for himself.

“Thank you Izuku for the chocolate! Make sure to keep up your studies so you can be a hero!” His mother said as he handed her the two chocolate bars and the change.

“Don’t worry mom, I’m still the top rank in my class.”

“I found a UA-funded cram school that might be useful. You can check it out when you pass the UA exams.”

Ah, of course. If he passes the UA entrance exams he’ll still need to stay at the top of his class, even though it’s a top-ranked hero school. So he’ll- wait, when?

“Mom, you said when I passed the entrance exams?” He asked hesitantly.

“Of course I said when, Izuku. I definitely think you’ll be able to pass the entrance exam.” She said. “And in the rare opportunity you don’t pass, we’ll look into top-ranked civilian high schools, ok?”

“Yeah that sounds good.” He replied. That had been something he was looking into, after all. He had also signed up to take the General Studies and Management exam, as well as the Detective course at Shinketsu. Putting all his eggs is one basket is idiotic.

He went up to his bedroom and put the Death Note on his desk, right beside some of his other notebooks. Perhaps he could do one final test, this time with another villain that was in the process of being arrested. He turned on the TV in his room and flicked it to the international channel, Channel 37. It was a channel that was live reports of major villains being arrested all around the world. Of course it was a 24-hour news station, so the definition of “major” was pretty relative. Sometimes it had big villains, such as Toxic Chainsaw, or Tadashi Tarou, his real name. Real names are something he should be paying attention to a lot more often. This particular piece was in Spanish, and it involved some drug lord named Edgar Perez, who had been trading Trigger around the world. He wrote down the name “Edgar Perez” in the notebook and waited 40 seconds. 40 seconds later Edgar Perez clutched his chest and died. He didn’t understand Spanish, but he saw enough to know that the Death Note worked.

Well enough of that supernatural nonsense, he has a quiz to study for.

He turned around in his office chair, and sitting on his bed, eating an apple, was… something. Larger than he was, it had a pale face, glowing red eyes, dressed in all black. There were spikes covered along his body as well as a book on a chain hanging from his hip. Ok Izuku, calm down and don’t yell out. His mother is close by, after all.

“Hello, I am Ryuk, a Shinigami.” The mysterious being, now identified as Ryuk, said. 

“A… Shinigami? How do I know you're not some creep with a mutation quirk wearing edgy clothing.” He asked. Because like hell he would believe there’s a Shinigami in his room when it’s more likely that it’s some guy with a quirk.

“Ah quirks, those of us in the Shinigami realm thought these quirks would be more exciting, but it’s pretty much the same thing, just everyone has weapon’s now. Anyway I’ve come here to explain a few things about the Death Note.” Ryuk (was that his name?) said as he pointed to the Death Note.

“As you have already figured out by now, the Death Note is no ordinary notebook.” Izuku nodded. After all, three people have died when he wrote their names into it. “In fact it’s my notebook. Well, one of them.” The shinigami stood up and patted the book that was on his hip. “So you’ve been experimenting. That’s interesting. Maybe you’ll be interested as well, I’ll follow you around. And don’t worry, Only the people who touch your Death Note can see or hear me.”

“Well that’s good, but try not to talk to me with people around so I don’t look insane, OK?” He was already bullied for a lack of a quirk, if he started talking to himself that would maybe make it worse. Probably the only reason why his bullying is not worse is because his mother works as a manager for Kamui Woods’ hero agency, filling out quite a bit of his extra paperwork.

“Fine I guess. Whatever. At least you have apples, that’s more than I can say of the Shinigami world.”

“Wait, you come from another world?”

“Yeah.”

Well this Shinigami has been right so far, and the notebook gives its user power over life and death, so it sort of makes sense that he comes from another world.

Anyway he actually has to study for the math test he has to do tomorrow. Their math teacher promised that there would be polynomials on the test.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12000 yen = 111.30 USD at current exchange rates.


	3. Explaination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was offered All Might's power, of course he would accept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah boy this was a monster of a chapter. Enjoy it.

When he woke up to a new day, there was the faintest scent of dread in the air. And it wasn’t because of the stupid death god that was sticking around him because of the Death Note. It had been a week after he got the stupid thing. He had only used it twice over the course of the week, just enough that it looked a bit odd, but not too suspicious. In a world where much more drastic things happened, an unusually high amount of heart attacks among convicted and wanted villains was not enough for many people to worry about. He had taken care to make sure they happened all over the world.

Everything had been going smoothly, so why did it feel like something wrong was going to happen? It could be that Kacchan had been pretty silent for the past week. The calm before the storm, as it were. Kacchan would always be careful to not go _too_ far, because of his mom’s position as some sort of important manager at Kamui Woods’ hero agency. Not like he would ever use his mom’s connections for his own benefit. He disliked people who did that, so it was only hypocritical. And if Kacchan went _too_ far, there’s always the Death Note. He just needs to write down the name “Bakugou Katsuki” in the Death Note and _boom_ (heh), he’s dead. Now Kacchan is not going to die by a simple heart attack, he already had the death and details he wants to write.

Now there’s several things he learned about the Death Note, but he’ll save that stuff for later. Like if he gets through today at school without feeling exhausted or wanting to write a name in the Death Note.

He never brought the Death Note to school. He was damn sure that at least Kacchan and at least one other person rifled through his things and stole things like papers and pencils and knicknacks. Nothing that he could _prove_ , but it was enough that he carried around important assignments and essays with him in a special binder. He even brought this binder with him to the bathroom.

So like hell he would bring the Death Note to school.

“You seem pretty smart Izuku, I think this will be quite interesting indeed.” Ryuk said from where he was sitting down on the office chair as Izuku was changing into his middle school uniform. This gave Izuku a chance to think about things. “Hey Ryuk.” He asked, finishing changing and popping his latest Hero Analysis notebook into his backpack. “Why do you talk about things being interesting, and why did you drop the notebook in the first place?” That had been something he had been wondering about ever since he first got the Death Note.

“The answer to both of those questions is the same. I did it because I was bored.”

Izuku couldn’t believe it. “Bored? You did all of this out of boredom? I don’t believe it. There’s no way that you’d give away such a powerful object out of boredom.”

Ryuk simply laughed. It was a hollow, empty sound, devoid of humanity. Which sort of makes sense, because Ryuk is not human. “The Shinigami world is a boring place Izuku. There’s not much going on here. I just want to see what goes on here. But as a reminder, I’m not your ally or your enemy.”

“So I should take anything you say with a grain of salt?” He had been doing it anyway, but it was good to know anyways.

“Except where the Death Note is concerned. Anything about the specific rules of the Death Note I won’t lie about.”

“That makes sense. Anyway, It’s time for me to head off to school. You can come along if you like.”

“It’s not like I have a choice.”

“Ok Cool.” He said as he left and closed and shut the door. His mom had gone to work early today, so he got himself to school.

A crashing noise along the way to school was the sign that there was a villain attack. He had seen a few of them over the years. They were a depressingly common occurrence at this point, but the heroes were all in the wrong places. In some, (areas where there are a lot of cameras, coincidentally) heroes were racing to stop villains. In other areas, most villains remained uncaught. And heroes rarely worked at night, meaning that some types of criminals almost rarely got caught.

When he wiggled his way through the crowd, he saw exactly what was going on. Kamui Woods, a hero he knew quite personally, was fighting a large villain with dreadlocks and a sharp head. The villain knocked down an iron pillar that came down and was about to crash into some of the crowd (in an area he wasn’t), but the hero Death Arms caught the pillar and safely lowered it to the ground. Backtrack came in at that point, using his water manipulation quirk to create barriers, slowly pushing people back.

He got out his hero analysis notebook, making notes on what the heroes were doing, as well as potential weakness. Kamui wood’s weakness was fire, obviously. Death Arms wasn’t _that_ strong, so he could be outmaneuvered. Backdraft can only control a relatively small amount of water compared to his output.

But Kamui Woods alone should be enough to take out this giant villain.

“Illegal use of abilities during rush hour, as well as robbery and assault? You are the definition of Evil!” Kamui Woods yelled out. (At that point Izuku realized that he didn’t know his real name. He should ask, make it sound polite). This is small potatoes, Kamui Woods. As dramatic as the hero his mother worked with was, he was quite skilled. (he was ranked #14 on the JP hero billboard chart, and is expected to rise even further in the rankings)

And there goes Kamui Woods’ preemptive binding. It’s a powerful finishing move that incapacitates almost everyone successfully.

“Canyon Cannon!” A loud woman’s voice came from out of nowhere, and then a woman that must be almost twenty meters in size, dressed in a skintight purple and white costume, crashing into the villain, and beyond it into a building. Seriously? A hero was literally seconds from taking him out, and you have to barge in and steal the “kill”, as it were? And then you destroy a building via collateral damage? Can you get any worse?

“Hello everyone, I’m Mt. Lady. I’m pleased to make your ass-quaintance.” She exclaimed, while pushing out her butt.

Aaand there she goes. She’s also marketing her body. Cool. He hurried off to school, ignoring the guys with cameras trying to get a picture, which this Mt. Lady wasn’t trying to hide in the slightest. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder about her quirk. Could she control her size further, or was it just a toggle switch, where she could be one size or the other. His suspicion was on the latter. Even if that was the case, she could still fight _smarter_. But she would have difficulties in small spaces. Maybe that’s why he felt like it was a bad day, he found an empty hero.

Ah, nevermind, that’s why he felt like today was a bad day, it was career evaluation day. And he knew that everyone here wanted to become heroes, even though they didn’t put in a fifth of the work that he did, and their quirks don’t really make up for it. Like extending eyes or fingers or having rock hair. He had started basic fighting courses at the Kamui Woods agency over the weekend. Despite what his teachers wanted to do, he insisted they use their quirks. Sure it’s a steep learning curve, but villains aren’t going to give him an easy time. He was still sore from all of the sparring.

“I could read out all of these papers.” Their teacher said, grabbing them dramatically. “But I know you all want to be heroes!” And he threw those papers up dramatically. 

Over the show of everyone expressing their quirks, Ryuk decided to comment. “This teacher is inspiring false hope. I don’t think that’s what he’s supposed to do.”

Instead of responding verbally, Izuku surreptitiously wrote down a note beside his open notebook. It was in English, and in his own messy handwriting, so almost nobody in this classroom would be able to read it, the teacher included as this was the History teacher.

That’s one of the problems I’m going to solve. Japan is hero-obsessed. Even the United States isn’t as hero-crazy. Most of the rest of the world like China, Indasia, and the EAU treat heroes like police. 

Ryuk gave a chuckle at the note. “Well then Izuku, let’s hope you can do what you want.”

While the teacher was trying to calm the class down, Izuku quickly wrote an addendum.

I’m waiting for Stain to become public knowledge, that way I’ll have a motive . 

“Excellent play Izuku, although that might take a while.”

Izuku was about to write a third note, but at that point Kacchan yelled out. “Don’t lump me in with the rest of these extras, teach. I’m gonna go to UA, unlike the rest of these losers.”

And with that statement, the mutterings began, such as the low acceptance rate (around 2%) and how it’s an elite hero school. Izuku took the time to shove the paper he wrote the notes to Ryuk (very incriminating) into his Hero Analysis notebook.

“Oh, aren’t you applying to UA too, Midoriya?”

Oh great. Thank you Suzuki-sensei, I needed that massive target on my back. Everyone turned to look at him. Then Kacchan spoke up. 

“Oi, Deku, don’t think you’ll ruin this for me. I’m going to be the _only_ one from this shitty school that’s going to UA. Your mommy’s connections aren’t going to help to get into UA, Deku!”

He _hated_ when people brought up the fact that his mother had an important place at one of the local hero agencies. He would never use the connections his mother had for _personal_ gain.

“I-I would never do that Kacchan!” He hated how his voice _still_ didn’t have the confidence he felt internally. Why did his once best friend do this to him?

“Tch, even with that there’s no way that you’ll pass the practical exam. Sure you’ll probably pass the written exam. I’ve aced the mock exams, and you haven’t even gotten close to beating me!”

Really Kacchan? Are you blind or something? Sure he hadn’t been able to do as well as him, due to his lack of a quirk, but he consistently scored second place, three and a half times the score of third place, but still around half of Kacchan’s score. So he was pretty confident he could get into UA without a quirk.

Everyone slowly filed out, leaving just him and Kacchan. Great, so what is Kacchan going to say now?

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve been changing Deku. You can try as hard as you want but there’s no way you’ll even approach me.” Kacch-no, he’s Bakugou now. Now that he finally has a way of fighting back, although it may be a bit drastic unless Bakugou does something _really_ bad. “As much of a genius you are, you still aren’t going to get much of anywhere.” And with that Bakugou stormed off.

Well he wanted to have a clever send-off remark, but this is better. If he’d have said much of anything it would probably have made things worse. Saying nothing is better, then.

“Why don’t you write his name in the Death Note?” Ryuk said from beside him. “It’d be easy.”

“No.” He said, finally getting up and leaving the classroom. “That would make me a villain, Ryuk.”

“Aren’t you already a villain? You killed three people with the Death Note already.” The shinigami said from beside him.

“I don’t think so, Ryuk. I learned quite a bit from looking at the essays and works Stain and other people made, as well as my own experiences. This society is broken, and I have the tools to fix it.”

“Whatever you say Izuku.”

And what is _that_ supposed to mean? Well Ryuk did say that he wasn’t an ally of his so of course that gives him blanket permission to fuck with his head. He just has to not let Ryuk get to his head.

Today he has to take a new route home because of the villain fight that happened as he was going to class in the morning. The building that Mt. Lady destroyed, as well as the overpass that the villain with a size growth quirk destroyed were being repaired, so it would be longer if he went that way. This route meant that he had to cut through an alleyway to get to the road on the other side, but there weren’t any major buildings that opened onto the alley, so it was relatively safe.

That was, it was when he saw it the last time, about a year ago. Of course there weren’t any new doors, because adding a door to a building is pretty complicated. But the original cleanliness that it had a year ago was gone, there was an accumulation of all sorts of trash; fast food bags and containers, soda drink cups, candy wrappers, and all sorts of dirt, grime and stagnant water. Trash bags were piled up along the edges, and some of them were torn open.

“Look at this Ryuk, this alleyway used to be way cleaner than this, now it’s just fallen to the wayside. People just don’t _care_ about the mundane things of the world anymore. And that’s all because criminals can get away with their crimes some of the time. So I’ll work on fulfilling Stain’s will of a new society.” He said as he walked down the alleyway.

“An interesting point Izuku, your observations about humans seem to be quite interesting. People often ignore the smaller things of the world and are drawn to the big and flashy things, which includes heroes.” Ryuk commented from behind him.

“Of course. There are thousands of times more All Might fans than Eraserhead fans. Which is a-” He was cut off by a noise coming from a manhole cover, a liquidly, bubbling noise.

Izuku turned around to see a mass of sludge emerging from the manhole cover. There’s an eye and a mouth that he could see from the nightmarish glob. Clearly the eye was a weak point for this… villain.

“Ah, a medium sized disguise! Perfect for an escape from that blond bastard.” The mass of sludge said and it doesn’t take a genius to interpret what they meant. Apparently the range of abilities this sludge… creature had included possession. Great. The sludge villain moved forward, so he grabbed a loose piece of stone from the ground and whipped it at the villain’s eye. He missed, and it merely sank into the sludge. Tendrils of cold, wet, sludge wrapped around his body, and then he felt it invading his mouth. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he's going to die, he has so much work to do…

  
  


He awoke to a hand slapping his face. Not too gently, but it wasn’t as harsh as he was expecting from the size of the hand.

He opened his eyes to see All Might standing over him.

 **“You there! I’m afraid I almost lost you! I’m glad that you are awake!”** All Might said, his voice loud and heroic, even though he wasn’t even his hero costume.

Wait, All Might?

Even after everything he’s experienced in the past week or so, All Might was just as important in his life, he had no less merchandise. Hell, Stain had even extolled the virtues of the Number One hero.

“A-all Might!”

 **“Yes it is me, All Might.”** The hero then struck a fancy pose. **“And don’t worry young man, you were only out for around fifteen seconds. And don’t worry.”** At that point, All Might pulled out 2 2-liter soda bottles, which had the villain somehow contained within it. **“I contained the villain in that time!”**

Izuku couldn’t speak. In the span of fifteen seconds, All Might had defeated and captured the villain. And there wasn’t even a camera in this alleyway! Stain was right when he said that All Might was a true hero.

“C-can you s-sign my notebook?” he asked, barely able to keep the stammering out of his voice. How could he? It’s freaking All Might! 

All might then showed him his Hero Analysis notebook, in which the words “All Might” were scrawled across 2 pages. Normally he’d be angry, but this is a genuine All Might signature. He grabbed the notebook and shoved it into his backpack. “This will be a family heirloom!”

**“Thank you… oh I never got your name young man. What is your name?”**

He ignored Ryuk laughing from beside him. Oh right, with the new information he knew about the Death Note, his name would be dangerous. But he could never lie to All Might! He wouldn’t even dream of it. Plus, All Might is the type of person to _never_ use the Death Note, even as a test.

“M-my name is Midoriya Izuku.” He finally said.

 **“Well then Young Midoriya, I’d best be off by now.”** And with that, All Might prepared to jump.

Midoriya didn’t know what possessed him to do this, but he latched on to All Might’s leg the second he jumped up into the air, meaning he was now very high up in the air. It took him a few seconds to figure out what he had done, and a few seconds later, All Might appeared to figure it out.

 **“Hey!”** He said, and began pushing on Izuku. He sighed and grabbed on harder. **“I’m all for fan service but this is a bit too far!”**

Izuku agreed, this was more than a bit too far, but he only had one thing on his mind. “If I let go now, I’m going to fall!” He yelled out somehow.

That made All Might pause. **“Oh.”**

And with that, All Might landed on the roof of some tall building.

 **“Well that sure was an interesting day for you, but I have to be going now!”** All Might said, preparing to take off.

“Wait!” He called out, making All Might freeze. “Is it possible for me to be a hero without a quirk? I’ve been putting in a lot of effort recently into my training, and I was wondering if I could make it as a hero?”

He refocused on the scene. The normally clear rooftop was covered in smoke? Steam? A couple of seconds later there was a bone thin man with bushy blond hair, two parts extending down further.

“AAAAAAH who are you?!?” He yelled out. There’s this stranger where All Might was standing!

“I am All Might.” The bone-man said.

“There’s no way! You look nothing like All Might!”

“You know how people at the pool flex to look more muscular? It’s kind of like that. I was in a fight about six years ago which left me this.” Not-All Might raised his shirt to reveal a ghastly wound, purple-pinkish and ugly.

“Was that in your fight with Toxic Chainsaw?” He asked.

“No, it was a much more potent villain, in a fight that was never released to the media. Half of all my respiratory organs and my stomach was destroyed. I can only be a hero for a little over three hours right now. Now don’t go telling this stuff to your online friends.” All Might said as he lowered his shirt back.

“Don’t worry, I would never do that to you All Might.”

“Well that’s good. And as for if you can be a hero without a quirk... “ Izuku leaned in. What would All Might say? “The answer is no.”

Izuku froze. So all of the training he had done, and All Might didn’t think he would be a hero?

“I’m sorry, but as you saw today, even people with the strongest of quirks can get grievously injured. Over sixty-five percent of heroes either die or take early retirement. I’m sorry, but it’s just too dangerous. There’s other professions you can be though. I think you’d be a great police officer or something.”

Izuku went to the fire escape down the building. Well of course his dreams couldn’t be achieved.

“Whew, All Might sure is fast.” Ryuk said, flying from beside him. “I actually had to put in effort to follow him. I haven’t flyed that far in so long.”

“Good for you Ryuk.”

“What do you think of what All Might said? About you not being able to be a hero?”

“I don’t need All Might’s approval to be a hero. I’ll be a hero just to spite him.”

That made Ryuk laugh in his usual creepy way. “I like your style Izuku, it fits you. You should be a hero for spite.”

Izuku was sort of glad he had Ryuk with him. Going down from the rooftop to the sidewalk took no time at all. And then all of a sudden he heard a loud explosion. It sounded just like Bakugou’s explosions. But it sounds like it’s coming from the Tatooin Shopping Mall. Sure Bakugou is a firecracker with a short temper, but he’s smart enough to not explode in the middle of a crowded shopping mall.

He ran in the direction of the shopping mall, the area where the explosion had happened. It didn’t take him long to find the area where the explosions were coming from, and it was a hellscape. Death Arms was pushing away rubberneckers, and Backdraft was trying to put out the fires in the surrounding area, going full force with his water quirk. Izuku knew enough about Backdraft’s quirk to know that the more he outputted, the less control he has over it. So at this output, Backdraft is basically a human fire hose. (If you want to be really nitpicky, it’s technically three fire hoses.) Kamui woods was scooping up people that were still in there, but it was difficult. Izuku knew that the arbor hero could feel through the wood he sent out, so just being here was painful for him.

Mt. Lady had decided to show her presence again, only to be unable to help because the streets were too narrow. Well that answers the question on if she can control the size of her transformation. He had predicted correctly that she would be constrained in smaller spaces. But then he noticed what was in the epicenter, beyond the fires and rubble.

It was the sludge villain, larger than he had ever seen it, a swirling mass of tendrils and dull green slime that must be three or more meters in height. He saw Kamui woods try to reach inside, but the sludge villain moved one of his tendrils fast enough that it smashed the wooden tendril into splinters. Izuku saw Kamui woods recoil at that. However, when the sludge villain moved, it revealed that this sludge villain had captured someone.

Bakugou.

He may no longer be his best friend, but he knew what Bakugou was going through. The sludge was trying to possess him now, controlling his explosions to keep heroes away. Izuku could see, in brief pauses when the sludge villain moved away, that Bakugou’s hands were reddened, and even beginning to blister in some areas. Bakugou was mostly immune to his own explosions, but he could get burns on his hands if he overexerted himself. Or, in this case, forced to do so.

He ran past the crowd, slipping past the outstretched arms of Death Arms, and ran at the sludge villain. He picked up a piece of stone or something like that and swung it at the sludge villain’s eye. The villain recoiled, but it wasn’t completely away. So he picked up and threw a second stone, causing the sludge villain to retreat even more. Because of this, he grabbed onto Bakugou’s arm and pulled with all of his strength. There was an audible, squishy, and _very_ disgusting popping noise, and then Bakugou had been completely freed.

“Stupid Deku, I never needed your help.”

“Sorry Kacchan, but you looked like you needed saving.” He said back, and then there was a blast of wind. All Might was standing there, fist open, and there was a whirlwind that happened. A light rainfall started, suppressing the flames. 

‘All Might truly is on another level compared to the other heroes. Has he really gotten weaker if he can change the weather with a punch?’

He watched as Bakugou was praised for how dedicated and steadfast he was duing the incident, while the same heroes told him how foolish he was for running in.

He retrieved his backpack and left for home. On an empty street, Bakugou ran into him again.

“Don’t think you're such hot shit for rescuing me Deku! I’ll still be the best hero!” He yelled as he left.

Well what was he expecting? Of course Bakugou wouldn’t change because of this.

“Hey Ryuk, I think I have another name for my Death Note. I’m going to find out the real name of the sludge villain.”

“Well you’ll hear no complaints from me about that Izuku.” Ryuk said back.

All Might suddenly came out of nowhere.

 **“I am here, young Midoriya!”** He exclaimed.

“H-how did you get out of there so quickly? You were surrounded by the Media?” He asked, surprised. Although maybe he should stop being surprised when All Might is concerned.

 **“Escaping from the media was a piece of cake!”** He said, before… poofing again and was now Thin Might. “Now, I have an offer for you.”

“An… offer?” He was hesitant. He trusted All Might, but offers always came with a price.

“When I told you you couldn’t be a hero, I was thinking hastily because of my time limit. But after seeing you run in there without hesitation, I was reminded of something.

“Great heroes always have an origin story, where they run into a situation without hesitation. And you… you can be a hero!”

He couldn’t help but make tears. All Might believed he could be a hero. He had been wrong, and changed his mind. “A-are you sure?” He asked. He ignored Ryuk laughing, because he could no longer be a hero to spite All Might anymore.

“Yes, and I will also give you my power!” All Might declared.

Stop. Wait, what? “What do you mean by that All Might?”

“When I’m asked questions about my quirk, I often deflect it or crack a joke in response. In truth, I was not born with my quirk, it was passed to me like a sacred torch. It’s called One for All.”

“One for All…” He repeated lightly, the words mixing and churning in his head.

“Now, do you accept.”

He accepted without hesitation. Sure being a quirkless hero would be a cool fad, but if he wanted to make a career out of it, he needed a quirk. With the literal strength of All Might combined with the Death Note, nothing and nobody would stand in her way.

“Meet me at Dagobah park tomorrow at 7pm. Will that work for you?” He nodded. It worked for him.

“Great! I’ll see you there young Midoriya. And in this form, I’m Yagi Toshinori.” All Mi- no, Yagi, said as he left. The name sounded _real_. It probably was All Might’s real name. He made a mental note of that as he walked back home to tell his mom what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is at best Tuesday and at worst Wednesday. It's time for a 7-8 month timeskip :P


	4. Descent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're finally getting started on the Death Note plotline. Let's see where this goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heard the Netflix Movie was bad, so I decided to check it out.  
> And yes, yes it is bad. Not as bad as the Avatar movie but it was still bad. But it did have the chance to be good. Unlike Avatar, where it has this whole unique style and all sorts of flashy bending, the main plot of Death Note is much more character-based, with little need for special effects. The movie did not need to have that much blood in it, just saying.  
> Everything about that movie is bad, and Yagami Light would run rings around Light Turner. I'm not going to spoil the movie but just don't watch it. I did so you don't have to. That's 100 minutes I'll never get back.  
> Anyways, end rant. Enjoy your chapter!

Dagobah municipal beach park wasn’t what his mother said it had been twenty years ago. He had seen pictures of it from that time. It had been a nice, clean beach. His mother even had her wedding there, when the weather was perfect, and in the pictures his mother seemed almost angelic.

He didn’t see the pictures of his father, his mother tore all images of his father out of any and all pictures so all he knew was that he had curly black hair and brown eyes. Even when he was four years old, he had had an excellent memory.

Him being quirkless was apparently the straw in the camel’s back for his father. Or, more specifically, his reaction to his son’s quirklessness was the straw in the camel’s back for his mother. He remembered the screaming matches. Apparently his father had cheated with some lady, he couldn’t remember her name but he already had a son (who had a quirk, which again he couldn’t remember. Usually he has an excellent memory but this is a decade ago, give him some slack.) who was five years old already.

So he has a half-brother a year older than him that he has no clue about. Cool. 

Like many things, Dagobah municipal park had fallen massively in quality. What was once a beautiful beach even a decade ago was now a massive trash heap.

All M-No, Yagi apparently noticed that he had been looking out over the trash.

“It’s a shame, really. This beach used to be so beautiful, but then people started throwing their trash out here. Sometimes people try to clean it up, but people are naturally lazy, so it builds up. And the thing is that the currents bring in trash, so it built up even more. Now you can’t even see the sand.”

“That’s happened to a lot of areas in Japan. I don’t know exactly why everything’s been just lowering in quality recently.”

“It’s a shame, young Midoriya. But that’s what we’re doing here today. A true hero does things without recognition! So you will be cleaning this entire beach!” Yagi announced.

Izuku looked out over the beach covered with trash. “All of this?”

“Yes, young Midoriya! The UA entrance exam is in ten months, do you think you can do this?”

He looked over the trash, determination filled his eyes. “Of course, Yagi. In fact, I think I can do this in seven months.”

“Y-young Midoriya, don’t push yourself too fast! You’re doing this so your body will be strong enough to accept One for All, otherwise your limbs will fall off.”

That was enough to sober him up. Out of the two things he would be receiving or had received, One for All might actually be more dangerous than the Death Note.

Well personally dangerous that is. But he _would_ get this, so he started off by moving things into the truck that Yagi had brought.

“Luckily for you, I have a plan that I developed specifically for you.” Yagi handed sheets of paper to him. “With this All-American Dream Plan, you’ll be able to get enough muscle mass to receive my quirk!”

He accepted the pages, and read through them. For a plan created in a day, Yagi sure was quite meticulous. All the muscle groups were relentlessly trained, and even things like sleep and eating time were accounted for. There was even a diet plan in all of this! Incredible! Although he did have a sneaking suspicion this was created by some of All Might's staff, and not by the pro hero directly. But you never know, he can only work as a hero for a couple of hours a day.

“You made all of this in a day? This is incredible! Thank you Yagi!”

“Of course young Midoriya! I have a lot of time in this form, so I used it to make this plan. Are you ready to get started today?”

He nodded. There was _no_ way that he would give up the chance to receive the most powerful quirk in the world. In the span of about two weeks, he had gone from having _nothing_ to having not only a way of killing people anytime, anywhere with just a face and his real name, to having a chance to receive a powerful quirk for situations where he couldn’t use the Death Note. So he put his all into cleaning up what little amount of the beach he could, lifting scrap metal, trash bags, broken appliances, and all sorts of trash.

He finally stopped at 9:45PM by Yagi’s request, and then he stumbled into his apartment ten minutes later. His mom was asleep, so he just slunk into his room and turned on his computer. He searched up information on the recent sludge villain.

Apparently his quirk was a transformation-type rather than a mutation-type, owing to the fact that the villain’s real face, while sort of stretched, was relatively human. Grey eyes, dull green hair, a scowl in his mugshot. The report that he saw identified him as Kajimi Doro. He took out the Death Note from the hiding place he had made, a hidden compartment he dug into the wall behind one of his All Might posters.

It was still fairly empty, only three names written down within it. He took out the specific pen he had just for writing in the Death Note, and was just about to write down the name “Kajimi Doro” before he realized something. He had a personal connection to this villain, and if he was ever recognized, he would become a suspect, which is not something he wanted to do. So he just put the notebook away.

“Why didn’t you write down the name of the villain?” Ryuk asked from beside him.

“Because when I start for real, there’s going to be an investigation for sure. And there’s a chance they’ll look at previous deaths. This one will get noticed for sure. And then from there, I’m a prime suspect because I was involved in an incident twice with Kajimi. So if I can keep myself out of suspicion, I’d do it.” He explained.

“Ah, very clever Izuku. Well let’s hope you get your motive soon, I’m bored.” Ryuk said. “Hey that apple over there.” He watched as Ryuk was looking at the apple. “Can I have it?”

“Sure Ryuk. I don’t care that much about apples anyways.” Izuku watched as Ryuk ate the apple, and then grabbed a second one.

“Why do you like apples so much Ryuk?”

“It’s like alcohol or cigarettes to you humans. I even have withdrawal symptoms.”

“Well then I’ll just get an apple for lunch every day and just secretly pass it to you. Does that sound good Ryuk?”

“Yeah, that should be good.”

So every day for seven months, he did cleaning on the beach, sparring and training at the Kamui Woods’ hero agency over the weekends, and spending the spare time he had studying for the UA entrance exam. And any spare seconds he had were dedicated to writing down the names of certain criminals. Not in the Death Note, but in lists tucked within his Hero analysis notebook 13. And he made sure not to push himself too far. He felt sore pretty much everyday, but he felt energy thrum through his veins, and he felt _transformed_. He could tell that Bakugou noticed he had changed his training regimen or something like that. He had explained it away that he was just ramping up his training as it was closer to applications to UA. Bakugo only gave a dismissive “Tch.” and walked away.

It was difficult as all hell, his mother had told him if he kept at this pace he would collapse. But he somehow still remained the top student at his school, relentless training with All Might/Yagi and spending every spare moment writing his theories about what would happen if he did this or that with the Death Note, or making places to hide the Death Note.

Because he was so busy, the seven months of his training flew by like it was no time at all.

Midoriya Izuku looked over the pristine beach. One month before he finished, there was an organization created that did daily beach-cleanings, which they helped a bit, but there were only a few people. 

“Well done, Young Midoriya, you proved me **wrong!”** with the final word, he transformed back into All Might. **“Now, it’s time for you to accept One for All!”** All Might plucked a hair from his head. **“Eat this!”** He held the hair in Izuku’s direction.

As like many things that happened when he was with All Might, his brain froze. “You want me to eat some of your hair?”

**“Well I can only transfer the quirk through my DNA. This is the best way I can think of!”**

Izuku had to agree. With the DNA transfer rule, there are _many_ ways to transfer the quirk. Most of them would get All Might arrested. Ryuk, of course, found this immensely funny. He had to hold himself in to not yell at the Shinigami for being annoying.

He grabbed the hair from All Might’s hand. “This’ll be disgusting, but screw it.” And with that statement, he dropped the hair into his mouth.

And almost immediately he choked on it. After several seconds of coughing and pounding his chest, he managed to swallow the hair.

And promptly felt nothing.

“So I ate the hair, what do I do now I don’t feel anything?”

**“Well, it’ll take some time for you to digest. And… before you test it, maybe we should go to UA. I have some of my associates that know about One for All that should help you with it. I took naturally to it, but there’s no telling what your experience with the quirk will be.”**

The way All Might said that short speech it sounded differently than everything he had said before. It sounded rehearsed.

“So who’s the one that made you rehearse that?” He asked, giving All Might a knowing smirk.

He would be a liar if he didn’t enjoy making All Might freeze. Given all the times that he was flustered around All Might, it was only fair that he returned the favor.

**“W-what makes you say that young Midoriya?”**

“What you said sounded out of character based on what I’ve seen and heard. Am I wrong?”

**“Well no. So how about travelling to UA, how does that sound?”**

Going to UA, his dream school? Even just getting a glimpse? He'd be a fool to give that up.

“Of course!”

Getting through UA was easy, Yagi had given him a guest pass. The navigated their way to a gym, where there were three other people. The Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl, some short hero in a white and yellow costume he didn’t recognize, and something that looked like some generic animal thing.

It was the animal that first spoke up. “Hello Midoriya Izuku! I am the UA principal, Nezu. It was my idea to bring you in for training. While I’m not so sure about you as a successor, it’s ultimately up to All Might.”

And then the old hero in the yellow and white costume spoke up. “The name’s Gran Torino. I’m here because Toshinori is an idiot that should never be trusted with teaching. And I think I can smack some sense into you.”

And finally Recovery Girl spoke up. “And I’m here to heal whatever wounds you get.”

**“Alright, young Midoriya! Can you feel power running through you?”**

Izuku closed his eyes and concentrated. There was a well of energy that he felt that he hadn’t felt before. So what does he do now. It felt like there was a barrier, preventing it from flowing through him. “Yes, yes I can.”

 **“Well just clench your buttcheeks and let it all g-”** All Might was cut off by Gran Torino slamming into the Number One hero.

“Don’t listen to that idiot, you need to manage your power output. Imagine only a small amount of power flowing through you.” Gran Torino said as he lowered himself to the ground.

So instead of breaking the barrier completely, he opened it slightly, letting only a small amount of energy through. He closed his eyes, focusing on spreading this small amount of energy across his entire body.

He opened his eyes to see that dark green and black lightning was arcing around him. The small amount of energy made him feel immensely powerful. He compared the energy within his body to the energy remaining in the core. “I think I’m at about 3.5% maximum power.”

“Great. Now dodge this.” Gran Torino shouted as he slammed into Izuku’s stomach. After he got a good look, he figured out the basis of the retired hero’s quirk. Gran Torino pushed air through the soles of his feet at high speeds. A speed enhancement quirk.

Of course Ryuk found him getting beat up hilarious. The death god was cackling maniacally.

The worst part was that he had to struggle to maintain control.

An hour and a half later, he sprouted bruises all over. He had to say that Gran Torino was a harsh, but fair taskmaster. He had slipped once at the very end and broke his entire arm. Which fucking hurt. Twenty times more than anything Gran Torino did to him. But he had already had monumental improvements. And because Gran Torino only wanted to see him twice a week, that freed up massive amounts of time.

When he got home, he received the second piece of good news for the day. A video of Stain had gone public. He clicked on the video copy he had found, to see what it had contained.

* * *

Kazumi Aotetsu looked at the map he had built. It had taken him months of looking at the places where Stain had attacked. It looked random, but there was a pattern. But what was it?

Stain hadn’t settled down yet. But looking at the numbers, he was going to soon…

Ugh, human brains were so inefficient at pattern recognition. But wait, he could use his quirk! Over the span of two minutes, he now had part of his brain as a computer’s CPU. Using this new part, he found a pattern easily. The Hero Killer’s next patrol area would be the Byss Ward of Saitama.

Over the next half hour, he used his quirk, Cyborg, to its maximum extent, completely transforming his body. He only had nine hours maximum in this form, so he should use the time efficiently. He didn't want to be caught out in the open when he experienced the backlash.

It had taken him six full hours, but he finally caught the Hero Killer. One of his eyes was a camera that was set to broadcast a live stream on his signal, which he gave.

“Hello everyone. This is the Pro Hero Mechanicus MK6, and I’m going to take down the Hero Killer.” He announced. He had studied what little information there was about Stain, and he had calculated that he had a ninety percent chance of victory.

“Another fake hero. I wanted to go after someone else, but you will have to do, Mechanicus.” And with that statement, he watched as Stain twisted in midair far faster than he was expecting, and a blade was following a split second later. He activated Automatic Defense Settings, and a blade popped out of his forearm, perfectly timed to deflect the blade harmlessly away. Good, so now he can focus on offence. A burst of tranquilizer darts emerged from his left shoulder. Stain dodged each and every dart, and then they were in melee.

As much as he tried to win, Stain was far faster than he had anticipated, which meant he couldn’t hold the full transformation….

He fell to the ground, the machine parts began to slowly fade away. Damn damn damn. In his confusion, Stain managed to get a hit on one of his flesh parts, and then a second later he dropped to the ground like he was a puppet whose strings were cut.

“You are a fake, Mechanicus MK6. It is my purpose to eliminate all fake heroes. All heroes should be like All Might!”

The last thing he saw was a rapidly descending blade.

Before it stopped.

He couldn't move a muscle, he couldn't use his quirk to it's fullest extent anymore, he watched helplessly as Stain looked at his camera eye.

"As I suspected, you aren't doing this to save lives, you want a publicity boost and proof you're powerful. Just a fake as any other."

The blade raised and descended again. He heard the villain continue ranting, as the last thing he heard.

* * *

Izuku closed the video.

“It’s time Ryuk. I think it’s time to start this for real.” He pulled the Death Note out from the concealed compartment it was in (He still needed to put more effort into the concealment, but that’s a problem for future Izuku.) and opened it to the first page, and pulled up a list of convicted villains all around the world on his computer.

“Oh? So Stain finally did something?” Ryuk said, approaching from beside him.

“Well not really. Some hero decided to try to attack Stain. Hell he even live-streamed it. So I think it’s time to start.”

He started writing down names, one after the other. As for the cause of death, he just left it alone. For his more specific experiments he would need a way to get results…

But how would he get results? He should think about how to do that...

The names and faces started to blend together. He could only remember the name and face of the current villain he was killing. After a while, he slipped in the name Kajimi Doro, a single name among around fifty. A needle in a haystack, as it were. He had filled the first page, front and back, when he decided to stop. He'd built up quite the collection of names over seven months, but there's no need to use them all up.

“I think that’s enough for now. I’m curious as to how the media will react.”

“We’ll find out, won’t we Izuku?” Ryuk said from beside him, chowing down on an apple.

“Of course we will, Ryuk. I’m curious as to how they will spin this.” He knew the media could spin almost every scenario, so let them spin _this_.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: We get to see what a certain group of people think about this strange murderer.


	5. Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midoriya Izuku advances in the world, making his moves. But now there's another player in the game, and his first move is big.

The notebook became something that Izuku used almost everyday. Writing down twenty or thirty villain names a day, relentlessly studying and training with All Might, Gran Torino and the UA principal, Nezu. Sure he hurt himself almost every day of training, and got hurt by Gran Torino even more, but between that and training in Kamui Woods’ agency (He explained his quirk away as him just being a late bloomer.), he was confident that he could pass the entrance exams. Yesterday, in fact, he had gotten an intriguing offer.

It had been another grueling day of training with Gran Torino. He had managed to actually keep up with the hero for once.

While he was taking a break, Yagi came up to him. “So young Midoriya, I think you have been doing quite well over the past two weeks. So I have an offer for you.”

Izuku was interested in what Yagi had to say. To say that All Might had given him a great gift would be an understatement. It was the greatest gift. If there was ever a situation where there was someone he couldn’t kill with the Death Note, and he _needed_ to protect his identity, well he has All Might’s quirk to defend himself.

“What is your offer, All Might?” He asked.

“Well I was wondering if you wanted to accept my recommendation and take the recommended student’s exam. I thought that this would be a good way to declare you as my successor.” Yagi explained.

This was another decision he had to make carefully. If he wanted to, he could ask Nishiya (Kamui Woods’ real name, something he found out about a week ago) for a recommendation. Huh, maybe that’s what he should do. He didn’t really want a connection to All Might… especially one this obvious. The only thing he can think of was that Bakugou would be pissy about him using his mom’s connections to get a free recommendation. But why should he care? He knows for a fact that there are going to be other recommended students that get in because of wealthy or hero parents or some other connection. It happens every year, there’s all sorts of hero families.

“I’m sorry, All Might, but I will have to refuse. No offence, but I want to make my own path as a hero. Having my name connected to you will only make me a target.” He reasoned.

Yagi looked taken aback, but he soldiered on. “It’s no problem, young Midoriya. I understand. I did the same thing, after all. So I suppose you’re just going to take the standard entrance exam?” Yagi asked him.

“Well I’m going to see if I can get a recommendation from Kamui Woods first.” He replied.

Yagi, of course, looked surprised at that. “Out of all the heroes, why Kamui Woods? That’s not something I would expect out of you.”

“Well my mom has some sort of administration or management role in his agency, and I’ve been doing sparring there over the weekend for about seven months or so. So maybe I can get a recommendation from him. And if I can’t, then I’ll just take the ordinary entrance exam. Does that sound good All Might?”

“Of course, young Midoriya. I'm glad you considered the offer regardless. Well I think that’s all. Have a great day.” Yagi said. And with that, he left.

“I think I have a good plan here Ryuk. What do you think?” Izuku asked.

“Well you certainly have written more names in the notebook than I expected. Three hundred thirty-one names already.” Ryuk said, chomping down on an apple.

“Oh this is just the beginning Ryuk. I want to show you something.” He turned his computer to reveal a website. It was a simple design, something obviously created hastily. “I apparently am even more popular than Stain right now.” The website was a forum site, where people had anonymous discussions about what was going on, the massive glut of heart attacks among convicted criminals, potential future targets, as well as praising him.

He had been given many names from all sorts of users on the forum about a week ago, but over the week, one name had become universally applied to him.

Kira.

“Well I’m glad that the internet gave me a name, because I can’t figure out names to save my life.” He said. 

“Your life might actually depend on it, so you might want to get better at it fast.”

“An excellent point, Ryuk. I’ll look into that.”

* * *

Emergency Counsel of the International Professional Hero Safety Administration (IPHSA), meeting hall 7, UN tower, New York, United States.

A low muttering was heard around the room as the representatives from every country with a national hero agency, which is every nation out there.

“Order! Order!” The chairmen of the IPHSA, also the representative from Australia, Stephen Sanderson, announced from the podium. “The UN security council has unanimously declared that the IPHSA has an emergency meeting, due to the recent work of a large villain organization that internet users have named ‘Kira.’ The purpose of this meeting is to figure out the steps we should take to figure out how this organization works.”

There was a small buzzing noise.

“The chair recognizes Josef Mizyrski, representative from Poland.”

The representative in question stood up. “The organization that is known as Kira has worldwide operation, and has caused heart attacks in more than three hundred convicted villains all around the world. I don’t like the idea, but such a wide-scale attack means that Kira is most likely sponsored by a government.”

That caused indignant shouting from the assembled leaders.  
“Order! Order!” Stephen yelled out, silencing the crowd. “We will have Order! We will not throw barbs at each other Mister Mizyrski.” Admonished, the representative from Poland sat down. A few people pressed buttons on their desks. The chairman looked down, and then looked back up. “The chair recognizes Yaoyorozu Sayumi, representative from Japan.”

“Thank you, Chairman Sanderson. Now what I think we need to do is calm down and have an orderly discussion of what to do about this terrorist organization. It is my belief they _want_ us to argue about this.”

“And how do we know that it isn’t _your_ government Mrs. Yaoyorozu.” The representative from Zapadoslavia, Alois Macxien, yelled out. “It could be anyone’s government!”

“Mrs. Yaoyorozu is correct. Mr. Macxien, please sit down.” The chairman said loudly, and the representative from Zapadoslavia sat down. “We do need a discussion about what to do. However, the UN security council has already approved someone to investigate. Please, come in.”

After finishing his statement, a figure dressed in all black, with a black trenchcoat. There were whispers about who this is. This figure was carrying a briefcase, and when he walked up to the podium, the director stepped aside, giving this figure access to the podium. The figure opened out the briefcase, revealing a laptop. They plugged in a cable that led somewhere, and then opened the laptop. The screen turned on, revealing that it was plugged into a projector that projected across the entire wall. The projection was merely a plain white background, in which there was a single letter in fancy font. “T”

“How did they get T on this case?”

“That means that that figure is Watari, the only person who has contact with T.”

“T is a legendary detective that’s solved every case he’s been on! So if anyone can deal with Kira, it’s him.”

 _“Ladies and Gentleman.”_ An auto tuned voice came from the laptop. It was clearly distorted. _“I’m glad to have been invited to do this case, as it’s quite intriguing. I have a theory, however, that Kira is not an organization, but it is a single person.”_

That started a low murmur of conversation.

_“Based on that theory, I am going to find who Kira is and have them executed.”_

The screen then changed.

* * *

“So you want a recommendation to UA?” Nishiya asked, looking at his desk, and the paper he was holding in his hand, it was an official recommendation paper.

“Yes, Nishiya-san. As you know, I discovered my quirk through my training, and I think I have the capability of taking the recommendation exam.”

Nishiya took the paper and signed it with both his civilian name and his hero name. “To be honest I was considering doing it myself, but you took charge and did it yourself.” He extended his hand, and Izuku shook it. “I wish you the best of luck in the recommendation exam. I have sent links to some study guides that you may like.”

“Thank You, Nishiya-san. I’ll be sure not to disappoint you.”

“Don’t worry, I know you won’t Midoriya. You have had massive improvements. I’d have even considered recommending you without you having triggered a quirk.”

Izuku looked at the Arbor Hero with disbelief. “Really?”

“Of course. You are a genius and are very skilled in fighting. I think you would have succeeded. I will send this out. Now go and study.”

“So there’s opinion questions on this entrance exam? Uuuuugh.” He groaned as he looked at the practice exam. “Who designed this thing?”

“Well it is the recommendation exam, Izuku, so of course it would be difficult. After all, these people are supposed to be the cream of the crop. Speaking of crops, ya got anymore apples?” Ryuk asked from beside him.

Izuku pointed to a bowl full of apples. “I fill that every day. Enjoy, but don’t eat too many.”

“Of course, don’t worry about that Izuku. Go back to studying that difficult test.”

Oh yeah, don’t remind him.

An alert sounded on his phone, something important. He turned on his computer which was set to a live stream. It was some tired figure with the title card “Lind T. Taylor.” in front of him. Izuku flicked on the volume on the computer.

 _“Hello everyone. I am Lind T. Taylor, also known as T.”_ The tired figure announced. Izuku knew who T was. A legendary detective who solved every case he was on with an almost scary level of genius involved. So maybe he was retiring or something?

_“I would like to announce to the world that I am going to find out who the man behind the mask is, I’m talking about Kira.”_

At that Izuku froze. T was going to try to find him? There’s no way that he’ll be able to stay out of Tartarus if T is on his case.

“Remember Izuku, you have his name and face.” Ryuk said from beside him.

Oh yeah! T, or rather Lind T. Taylor, made a worldwide public announcement because this was a bigger case. But that would be the thing that would _end_ him before T even started.

He grabbed the Death Note from its hiding spot, and was about to write down this man's name before he paused. Was he really about to kill an innocent man? Just to save himself?

He looked at the options he had. On one hand, T was responsible for bringing down several criminal empires, and had quite a few high-ranking criminals behind bars. But the thing is, isn't he doing it better? Sure he doesn't have the resources (yet) that T does, but he has the Death Note, which he can use to kill wanted villains, as long as he has their name and face, something that was usually included in those wanted posters you see online.

But the thing is, he's anonymous, he doesn't even have to leave the privacy of his bedroom to kill criminals, and the Death Note leaves no evidence. So T, or rather, Lind T. Taylor, is starting with absolutely _nothing_.

_"I am going to find who Kira is, and have them executed. And I already have a big lead as to the identity of Kira."_

He has a lead already? He knew T was good, but he already had a lead? T probably had an intelligence boosting quirk, or some other quirk that allowed him to get patterns together easier than normal. This was not a position he wanted to be in. So does he kill an innocent man to save his own skin? Does he have a choice? It seems like T already knows there's a single person behind Kira, and not a world-spanning agency.

_"I'm coming for you Kira, and I'm never going to stop."_

"Do you really have a choice Izuku, it seems like you only have one option to save your skin, and don't forget that T is a tool of the organization that you were seeking to take down, the fake system with fake heroes, remember?" Ryuk said from right beside him.

_"Also, Kira, what you are doing? It is evil. You are a villain."_

Izuku looked at the screen. Evil? Villain? That's not what you call someone who defeats villains. You call them a hero. And to many, Kira is already a hero. Hell, he's even seen petitions to allow him as someone who's on the worldwide hero ranking charts.

_"As much as you want to see yourself as someone who follows the will of Stain, who protects people by killing villains, you are not. Leave that to the heroes, villain."_

What right did T have to call him a villain? That's not what he is, he's a hero. There's only one thing he can do. He started to write down the name "Lind T. Taylor" in his usual neat handwriting, fitting it in just next to the name of a former wanted villain. His hand was shaky as he wrote the name, barely managing to finish the name. As soon as he finished the name, he closed his eyes and pushed the notebook away. In 40 seconds T will be dead, and this whole affair will be behind him. He opened his eyes and set a timer on his watch, and started the timer. T went on and talked about details of the investigation, cooperating with international officials, and finding out the identity of the terrorist known as Kira.

In the middle of talking about Anti-terrorism plans, the timer reached zero, and Lind T. Taylor collapsed to the ground, dead.

“I really didn't want to do this, T." He said, closing the Death Note with an air of finality. "But I really didn't have a choice."

"You did what you had to, Izuku. You shouldn't feel bad about that." Ryuk commented between bites of an apple. "This was a matter of life and death."

The screen turned to black. “I don't feel like writing in the Death Note anymore for today." he grabbed the notebook and tucked it into it's hidden place. 

However, before he clicked to close the screen, it turned back to white, with the letter “T” in the middle of the screen. Izuku froze.

 _“You have confirmed my theory that you are only a single person, Kira. Furthermore, this was not a worldwide broadcast, and was instead only broadcast in the greater Musutafu area. Thank you for all of this information about you Kira.”_ And with that the screen shut off.

Ryuk, of course, found this hilarious, laughing maniacally behind him. “Shit. I fucked up Ryuk. What the fuck am I going to do now? I just killed an innocent man for no reason!"

He looked up the name just to be sure, because T had put up this person as a sacrifice, a lamb to the slaughter. It didn't sit well with him. So he looked up the name just to be sure.

Turns out that this Taylor person was on death row, some newspaper had leaked it accidentally. He did long, slow breaths to calm down his rapidly beating heart. So he didn't kill an innocent man, but he still gave way too much information to T. He refreshed the page to find that it had been deleted. So he had been lucky.

He can still save this, maybe. He just needs an inside into the investigation that's going to inevitably happen. Sure T has eliminated 99.8% of the population as suspects, but there’s still Thirteen and a half million people to sift through. 

But from now on, he needs to stop relying on luck, and start thinking about this more analytically. But he was still taking heavy breaths, and his arms and legs felt heavy. But he persevered through it. His mother would be worried, after all.


	6. Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A third player has joined the game, let's see what their opening moves are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Darkwings92 for suggesting the changes to the previous chapter.  
> and for everyone that was had...  
> :)

“What are you going to do now Izuku? Looks like T has got you good.” Ryuk commented when he stopped laughing. Izuku was still frozen in his chair from the pronouncement from T. He had made a major mistake. It had been a risk to take out T, but he did fail.

“Well at least this Taylor guy wasn’t an innocent man. But now I’ll have to be careful about what I do from here on out. I might be targeted otherwise.” He said back.

He didn’t see Ryuk from behind him, but he _knew_ that the Shinigami was grinning madly. “Oh, how interesting. I knew you would be a very interesting person to have the Death Note.”

“Well now that there’s an official investigation I can get some results from my experiments, test out the limitations of the Death Note, what I can and can’t do. It sounds cruel, but they’re criminals anyways.” He turned to a blank page of the Death Note, and pulled up a list of convicted criminals. “The notebook says that I can write down the details of how someone dies within 6 minutes and 40 seconds of writing down a name. Exactly how much control does that give me over a person before they die? Let’s find out.” So he brings up a list of convicted criminals and starts writing.

After finally finishing everything that he wanted to write down, he switched tabs over to the document tab he had open. There was an opinion essay that he had to finish for the second practice test for the UA recommendation exam. He had gotten 1833/1907 on the first practice exam. From what he could find out, this was already a really high score. But that wouldn’t be enough.

“Izuku honey, dinner’s ready!” His mom said, knocking on the door.

He shut off the computer. “Coming mom!”

His mom really was legendary. He had even started to learn to cook just so he could take some of the weight off of her, now that he was old enough. He washed his hands quickly and sat down at the dinner table.

“So I got some news, Izuku. I know I’m not supposed to tell you this…” Izuku leaned forward. “But I was in charge of the Forests Agency taking over a new investigation.”  
He had a very good idea of who exactly she was going to investigate. And that person was himself. But he should ask anyways. “Well who is it, mom?”

“I’m going to find the secret identity of the person behind Kira. And when they get caught, they’re probably either going to Tartarus or getting executed. T already said they were in the area.”

“Yeah, I saw that on my computer. T certainly is an amazing investigator.”

“Well, enough about such depressing topics, let’s talk about your recommendation!” She said. Izuku could tell that she was nervous. Well it was understandable, they still didn’t know how Kira caused all those heart attacks among the convicted and wanted criminals. So they felt at risk. Ugh, why was his mom working on this case? Sure that meant that he had an in, but…

Well he can talk about the recommendation exam!

“Since the full exam is in over a month, I’ve been studying a lot as well as getting in some practice using my quirk better. I think I have a good shot at this.” He said.

“Well what about the interview? I heard that was always a difficult process.” She replied.

He had heard of the interview, and from what he had heard, it wasn’t something that he had to be worried about. From what he could tell, the interview was fairly basic, about why you wanted to be a hero, questions about your quirk, and other stuff like that.

“I’m not worried about the interview, it shouldn’t be too difficult.” He reasoned.

“Oh Izuku, where did you get all this confidence from?” She asked. “I mean, it’s good for you and all, but it’s surprising.”

Shit. He had been focused on a lot of things recently. “Well it’s just that I’ve been training to be a hero for almost a year now, I probably just picked it up along the way.”

“Oh, ok then.”

The rest of the meal, he asked seemingly innocent questions about the case, gleaning what he could. Apparently she was working with T, indirectly, through a computer screen. And there was also Watari, who was also concealing his face. Izuku was damn sure that was not his real name.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean up.” He said after the dinner was done. He had noticed how tired his mother had been acting recently, and he wanted to help her out. This was a dangerous game he was playing, with deadly consequences.

* * *

Shigaraki Tomura turned off the TV in the bar.

“What do you think about this Kira person Shigaraki?” Kurogiri asked from beside him. “He has his work cut out for him.”

At that point, the computer screen that was on a table tucked into the corner of the bar turned on. _“Indeed. Now that T confirmed that this is the work of a single person, I think that we should try to reach out to them. A quirk that allows its user to kill anyone in the world… I would give up every other quirk I have to get that single quirk.”_

Tomura was stunned at his Sensei’s announcement. His Sensei loved his stored quirks about as much as he hated All Might, which was to say quite a bit. But of course, this quirk is amazing. “And now that T confirmed they’re in the area, we should try to contact this Kira person.” He added.

_“Indeed, I will work on attempting to recruit Kira. T and that blond bastard have been systematically destroying all of my organizations and contacts, but I still have some contacts left. You should see if our little mole is still on target. If not, I assume you can convince them.”_

“Of course, Sensei.” And with that, the screen turned off.

Sensei was one of the smartest people on earth, but he was no match for the raw intelligence of T. But the thing was that even he was sure that Kira was operating alone, based on T’s challenge to Kira. If Sensei could get to Kira before T would, Kira would not be executed, he would be…

Well Sensei would take his quirk and then kill him, but Sensei was smart enough to not make this obvious when he talked to Kira. Or maybe Kira would be recruited into the League. He could never tell with Sensei.

Anyway, he had an assignment to take care of, checking out if their planned traitor was still loyal. But there was one other thing that he wanted to take care of before doing that. The League needed new recruits. Sensei had already said that his time was limited. As much as he didn’t want that to happen, Sensei had been explaining how much of a toll things like quirk exhaustion and his extensive injuries… It's not painting a good picture for the future of Sensei.

This reminded him of a conversation he had 4 years ago.

_“I don’t have much longer in this world, Tomura. The good doctor’s been helping me stay alive, but I think I have only ten years maximum left.” His Sensei said from the life support systems he had strapped to him. “There was more internal damage then the good doctor was expecting. I want you to prepare for the League to exist past my death.”_

_“No… Sensei…. How can you die? Isn’t there anything you can do?”_

_“I’m doing my best, but there’s only so much that can be done. You need to recruit people to the League of Villains yourself, Tomura.”_

It had been an eye-opening conversation. But he was thankful for what his Sensei had said to him. He knew what he needed to do. “Kurogiri, can you make contact with the Hero Killer Stain?”

“I’ll see if I can reach him.” Kurogiri said, and he surrounded himself in his black smoke. 

“Thank you Kurogiri.” He said as Kurogiri disappeared. Well now that that’s happening, he should reach out to the mole that’s going to be going to UA soon. He went up to his room and plugged his phone into his personal computer. It was a program that he had developed that would hide his voice under his secret identity as “Seraph.”

It took three dial tones before the mole picked up the phone. They had taken similar precautions, and only Sensei knew their identity. He only knew them as “Crafter”

“Hello Crafter, how is your preparation to take the UA entrance exam going? It’s still in two months, but I want to make sure that you’re studying. Apparently this exam is supposed to be real tough.”

 _“As much as I don’t like studying, I’ll do it for your Sensei. Remember who exactly I work for here.”_ The automated voice of Crafter came through the phone. _“Although Sensei told me I’d have to work with you more. So I’ll be sure to update you on what happens.”_

Ugh, this crafter person was a brat. But hey, at least they were going to answer to him more. He could deal with brattiness if he got results.

“Very well. If there’s any study resources that you need, make sure to ask. I know that your parents aren’t that good, so you can ask us for stuff.” He said, making sure to make it sound as casual as possible, and not like he had read a report from Sensei about this kid’s parents. It didn’t have his name, but he knew the kid didn’t have a good home life.

 _“How did you know this?”_ Crafter said defensively from the other side of the phone.

“Because I’m just that good, Crafter. Now, do you need anything?”

 _“No, I’m good for now.”_ And with that, Crafter turned off his phone, disconnecting the line.

Well it seemed like Crafter was doing OK. In a little under two months, Crafter, whoever they were, would be taking the UA entrance exam, and then they will have an inside to the school.

Then they could make their move.

* * *

 _“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m glad that you accepted my offer to work with you.”_ T spoke from the laptop, Watari standing beside it. _“We will work with purpose and skill. Now, we should look at the quirks of everyone in the greater Musutafu area, maybe we can see one that would explain these attacks.”_

Besides Watari who had the laptop, there were quite a few civilian police officers and other administrators in the Forests Agency, including many of the local heroes, such as Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, Backdraft, and Death Arms. Some of the teachers at UA were present in person, Eraserhead, Midnight, Ectoplasm, Snipe, and Cementoss were all present in person. Vlad King and Power Loader were remotely attending.

Eraserhead spoke up at this point. “I talked to Nezu about this, and he already had some automated programs sift through the quirk registry forms of everyone in the greater Musutafu area. He determined that nobody has a sufficient quirk to accomplish what we’ve seen that Kira is capable of.”

_“Me and my associates have determined the same thing.”_

“So does that mean we have reached a dead end?” Midoriya Inko spoke up at this point. “Because what could it be if not a quirk?”

_“Perhaps this is a more specific ability or something else like that. Which means that finding Kira through the quirk registry is not going to work. From what we saw on TV, Kira’s quirk allows them to kill remotely, making them extremely dangerous. What we need to do is find a pattern on how these criminals are dying.”_

“So wait, you just used some random civilian to provoke Kira?” Death Arms spoke up.

 _“I should’ve informed you this earlier, but Mr. Taylor was on death row. He_ was _a convicted criminal. We should look for a pattern in these killings.”_

“Yes, we will contact you if we find such a pattern.”

_“As will I. The only thing that I can tell for right now is that Kira kills with a heart attack. Besides that, they're all either convicted or wanted criminals."_

"Would anyone else like to ask some questions?" Kamui Woods asked. "I have one of my own, but I will wait until there's nothing left to say."

One Kamui Wood's interns stood up nervously. She was a second-year UA student, with straight black hair, red eyes, and was covered in patches of scales, as well as having a whiplike tail with a barbed point."I think we should set up a website were people can provide information about Kira, and we can also look into social media, see if Kira has like a Tweeter or something. I-if it's not too forward of me."

There was a brief moment of silence, then T spoke.

_"An excellent suggestion miss?"_

"My heroine name is Ōtādoragon, T."

_"A great suggestion miss Ōtādoragon. I suggest to Kamui Woods that he does pursue this line of investigation. Because of how much more anonymous the internet is, it could be that Kira has a presence there, and we can maybe sift through the garbage we're likely to get and acquire some useful information."_

The laptop screen shut off, and they all dispersed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strap in boys and girls, there's still a long way to go.


	7. Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All sorts of testing :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the constructive criticism! It's helping me improve this work :)

It had been a week since he had written a name in the Death Note. He was still shaken up by the whole switcharoo that T had pulled on him. The news media had been scared and theorizing about why Kira hadn’t killed anyone in a week. Saying that Kira had been scared off by T’s challenge.

Why did this mess him up so much? He needed to push through this… Not for his sake, but for everyone out there who’s quirkless, or has a so-called “Villain’s quirk” or the countless others who were ruined, harmed, and abused by this quirk-based society that exists around the world. So be strong Izuku. 

He pulled the Death Note out from the place he had hid it (behind one of his various All Might posters, and it was wrapped in a fake “Limited Edition” design All Might comic that he had made the design of.

“Wow, you put a lot of work into this disguise, Izuku.”

“Of course I did, Ryuk. I should probably have more though…” He looked at the Death Note, and then tore out a page. “Let’s see if it works with a page torn out of it.”

He wrote down the names of three wanted criminals, and then put the notebook away. He will see the reports on everything tomorrow, the three he killed with the torn out page and the seven that he gave more detailed commands to. That’s all he feels like doing for now.

He tucked the page into one of his normal notebooks, and then opened up a document of interview questions from the interview question’s list three years ago. He’ll think about this whole Death Note business later. For now, he has to work hard so that he could do well in the recommendation exam.

This next day was a Sunday, which meant it was a free day for him.

Or, it’s supposed to be, but he’s going to be very busy on Sunday. He sat down at his computer and signed in to an administrator account that he had created in the Forests Agency. His mom had often asked for technical assistance on her computer because she wasn’t the best at computational analysis. Since he had gotten the Death Note, his mother had needed help twice. He used this to get an inside into all the information that was the spearhead of the Kira investigation. But more importantly, he could receive information about what happened to the prisoners that he gave more specific commands to.

* * *

“I really hope that this will all turn out for the better, Ryuk.” Izuku said, as he sifted through the database. “Ah, here it is.” He pulled up the database. He had given seven convicted criminals a variety of commands, some of which included escaping from prison and going to a specific area. One of them even managed to escape the prison they were contained in entirely. But there were three criminals that he had performed what would seem to be impossible tasks.

“As much as I hate to use criminals for experiments… I had to get some information about what the Death Note is capable of doing.”

“Like I said, it’s up to you to determine how the Death Note is used.”

“So you never told us why you thought that Kira was located in Japan, T. I mean, you did prove it on live TV, but how did you get the idea that he was based in Japan in the first place?” Kamui Woods spoke. This case had pretty much taken up everything he had done before. Of course he still went on the occasional patrol, but the Kira case was much bigger.

 _“Mrs. Midoriya, you presented the theory that Kira was inspired and radicalized because of the Hero Killer Stain.”_ T spoke from his laptop. _“However, I suspect that Kira has been killing for much longer. I don’t know for how long, but it’s been at least 4 months. And about 50% of these scattered heart attacks took place in Japan. I’m curious if you can pierce together the time of death for all of these criminals. How did the quirk registry go?”_

“We pursued all the leads of people with a quirk that could possibly cause a heart attack at any range.” A new figure spoke, standing up from where he had been sitting. “Sorry for not introducing myself, I’m Detective Tsukauchi, and my quirk, Lie Detector, might be useful for this investigation.”

_“Indeed. If I would, I would have you ask each and every person in the greater Musutafu area if they are Kira, but that would take too long, and there would be a public outcry, especially because of the unfortunate popularity of Kira._

_“But that doesn’t mean that you won’t be of use to the investigation. We just need to narrow down the suspects to a reasonable amount. But I’m glad you have accepted my request to be let on to the case.”_

“Might… I ask you a question in private, T? I have a theory concerning Kira.”

_“I think I know where your thoughts are going. If you all could leave the room for a brief moment?”_

“But why should we, T?” Midoriya Inko spoke up. “If this is information that’s essential to the Kira investigation, then we should be here to listen to it as well.”

_“Detective Tsukauchi, I will leave the decision up to you. If you think they’re involved, then it’s up to you to reveal if they’re involved.”_

That made Tsukauchi pause to think. Revealing the existence of All for One was dangerous, because the very existence of an immortal supervillain who could take and give quirks would cause mass hysteria. But this wasn’t an open reveal. Sure there were around fifty people in this meeting room, but this was a closed investigation.

“Very well. I think that Kira is a former associate of the supervillain known as All for One.”

Rather than the shock and horror he was expecting, all he got was confusion. Guess he needed to give a further explanation.

“All for One is, or rather was, a two hundred year old supervillain whose quirk of the same name allows him to give and take quirks. All Might defeated this villain six years ago. I had a theory that All for One gave a quirk to someone and then used him as a sleeper agent, but the agent was influenced by Stain. What do you think of this T?”

Amidst the weird mixture of shock at this villain existing, then relief that All Might defeated this villain, then horror that such a powerful villain might be connected to Kira.

_“An excellent guess, Detective Tsukauchi. Although I’m not entirely sure about the connection, we will of course follow all leads. I have an associate that I will send down that line of investigation. They are responsible for taking down quite a few of All for One’s agencies.”_

“Can you reveal anything about them?”

 _“The only thing that I will reveal is that they are known as S.”_ “What’s with these one-letter names” one of Kamui Wood’s sidekicks, a woman with long hair that twists itself into whips, and then shifts back into natural hair constantly.

_“So, is there any additional information that can be revealed. For one thing, I find it interesting that Kira can potentially control his victims for a time leading up to their deaths. Something I also want to look into is the time of death of these convicted and wanted villains.”_

“Does anyone have anything else to add?” Midoriya Inko said, tapping the papers she had together to straighten them. “Well until next time everyone!” The heroes, sidekicks, police officers, and top-level civilian officers, including her, started to get up and file out.

 _“Wait.”_ T said, causing them to all pause. _“Have we figured out the reason why there was a week span where there was no deaths, and then there was only a few, and those are some of the worst remaining.”_

“We thought that it was because he had been spooked by your announcement, and how much you narrowed him down.” Kamui Woods said. ‘Is that not it?”

_“I’m not sure. Although what I can tell is that Kira’s motivations are a little more complicated than we think. That is all I have to add.”_

“Ok anyone else?” Midoriya said as she looked around the silent group around her. “Well, now we can go for real.” With that, everyone filed out of the room.

 _“Detective Tsukauchi, please stay here.”_ T announced from the other side of the computer, as he was about to leave. _“I would like to have a conversation with you.”_

* * *

“You said you had a motive, Shigaraki.” Chizome said as he looked at the bar. In the months since his live-streamed fight with Mechanicus MK6, he had accumulated quite a fanbase. Including the mysterious Kira. He wanted to reach out to who the media called a villain. But in his mind, Kira was merely misguided. 

“Yes, I did. I looked into your ideology of fake heroes, and I was intrigued. But there’s more to the world than your narrow view, Stain. There’s been an update, and I’m intending to take down this whole hero-obsessed society.” Shigaraki announced, spreading his hands in a grandiose gesture.

Huh, this Shigaraki did have a point. Perhaps he had been seeing things too narrowly.

“Yeah, I could get behind destroying society, scarface.” Dabi said from beside him. “But what’s your plan, huh?”

“We start by killing All Might.”

At that pronouncement, Chizome drew two knives and charged Shigaraki. How _dare_ he criticize All Might. He saw Dabi out of the corner of his eye, also similarly charging forward, hands alight with blue fire. Shigaraki jumped forward, hands outstretched in a similar way.

A thick black smoke surrounded his arms, cold and slick, but it quickly faded away into the surprisingly warm air of what seemed to be a drafty bar in early February. He stopped because of how strange it felt. He looked around, and his hands were sticking out of a portal on the other side of the bar. He moved his hand experimentally.

“Please listen to our reasonings for doing what we do before reacting harshly.” A figure spoke. They were dressed as a fancy bartender, save for black smoke for hands and a head. Yellow eyes pierced through the smoke, and he wore a layered metal collar. “If you would?” This figure asked to nobody in particular it seemed, before a computer screen turned on. “Kurogiri, I would like to talk to Stain in person. Please open a warp gate to my location.”

Chizome watched as this Kurogiri person opened a larger portal. So he has a teleportation quirk, huh? Well he seems to be a major asset. Sure he may think of All Might as the one true hero, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not open to criticism.

“If I don’t come back in four minutes, assume I am dead, Dabi. You know what to do.” He said as he entered the portal. The last thing that he saw was Dabi nodding. He had figured out what Dabi’s big secret was relatively easily, but he didn’t treat him any differently for being the son of Endeavor. He would wait, and see if Dabi was ready to open up to him.

When he walked through the portal, it was a mix of textures that he had the distinct feeling that he would never get used to.

He was in an underground facility somewhere. He didn’t know exactly where it was, but it was _huge_. Sitting in front of him, hooked up to a ton of life support machines, a face that only had a mouth, all the rest covered in scar tissue.

“Who are you?” he asked. He had seen some messed up things, he had spent half his life in the undercity of the world, and he had never seen someone with injuries like this, and still be alive.

“I am known as All for One.”

“Who gave you these injuries?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“All Might gave me these injuries in a fight six years ago. We fought for a selfish reason, Stain. He wanted revenge, he hit to kill, not even taking into account the bystanders around the area where we fought.”

At this All for One’s short speech had concluded, he couldn’t do anything but stand there. All Might, stooping so low as to enact a revenge plot? Hitting to kill?

“So you want my help taking down society? Tearing it down and rebuilding it so there’s only true heroes left?”

“That might be Tomura’s goal. My only purpose is to act as a mentor. Shaping him, guiding him. That’s also why I want to find Kira. They would be a major help to Tomura’s plan.”

“Fine. I’ll assist you. But If I find out that you’re lying, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

All for One seemed to laugh at what he had said. “Of course. But you shouldn’t need to.”

A portal opened again, and he walked back through.

Even though it hadn’t been four minutes, Dabi was staring down Tomura. But when he saw that he had emerged back from the portal, he relaxed slightly. “So, how’d the conversation with that guy go?”

“I don’t trust them.” He said. “But this is our best chance to spread our message.” he then turned to Shigaraki. “We accept your invitation into the League of Villains.”

“Good, good.”

“Dabi, you can get yourself settled in, I'm going out hunting for fakes.” He announced as he left, leaping and bounding across rooftops and between buildings. He had a specific target in mind. There was a hero, Zankij, who had used his position as an advisor at the Hero Commission to embezzle money. The total amount was around 193 million yen. 

As he was going in the direction where he had scouted out was the best chance of him running into Zankji, he thought about this whole Kira affair.

One of the reasons he had been operating for years is that it took him several weeks to research a potential target, find out patrol routes, when and where they patrol, finding a place in their city where they are alone in a remote place, scouting out areas beforehand. Thanks to T’s broadcast, Chizome agreed with T’s suspicions that Kira can kill from anywhere in the world. What would he do if he had the powers of Kira? It would eliminate much of the risk of getting caught, and he could do it from anywhere in the world. In fact, he would never get caught because he stays in one place.

But what if Kira was an ordinary person? He thinks, looking at the small groups of people walking in the night, between the streetlights, heading to important destinations, such as those two guys in suits, carrying briefcases, one of which has a phone to their ear, obviously calling someone. These people aren’t wanted criminals, they don’t move like he does from city to city, they don’t fight heroes (fake heroes) in alleyways, they just go along with their life, living like they don’t have the power of life and death in their hands.

What sort of person would be able to wield such tremendous power? He thinks as he darts into the ambush spot and sits down to lie in wait. How would an ordinary person react to the realization they could suddenly, anonymously, end a person’s life? Most people would probably react with shock, panic, and terror with the realization they ended a life. But whoever had this power was not that type of person. They’ve killed almost 300 convicted and wanted criminals worldwide. He wanted to meet whoever they are in person, and have a conversation with them.

A ruffle and a light crash caused him to get out of his thoughts. He looked over the side, and there was Zankji, casually walking down the alleyway like he didn’t have a care in the world.

He put all thoughts of Kira aside as he drew his swords and leapt down to attack Zankji. Kira might have it easy, but he has to kill in person.

* * *

Izuku looked up at the gates of UA, visitor’s pass in hand. He couldn’t believe that he was actually taking the UA recommendation entrance exam! When he stepped across the threshold of the school’s gate, he half-expected there to be an electric shock or some sort of “crime detector” or some other sort of thing his paranoid mind could conceive of. He had barely used the Death Note in the interim weeks. Ryuk had complained about being bored, but Izuku ignored him. He did give him apples, which seemed to sate him for now.

It felt like a dreamland, like it wasn’t real, like he was walking on air. But it was. UA was almost empty at this point, he had arrived an hour early.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Heroics


	8. Heroics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midoriya takes the recommendation exam. That's it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this.  
> The next chapter might not be for a couple of days, so be ready.

“So you arrived here early as well?” A girl’s voice said from behind him.

“Yeah!” He said, turning around to see who was speaking to him, and he was faced with what he could only describe as a stunningly attractive girl. Tall, with straight black hair tied up in this bushy ponytail, and she had a long coat with a hood, obviously for the February wind.

Oh wait, he hadn’t even introduced himself. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, what’s your name?”

“My name is Yaoyorozu Momo, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She replied. She was formal too! He turned around to hide his face heating up. Contain yourself Izuku! Think about something else. Like how her name sounds familiar...

“So, you’re here for the recommendation exam too?” He asked, to take his mind off of how she looked, because he has work to do, dammit, and he couldn’t get distracted.

“Yes! I mean, it’s always been my dream to be a hero. My parents own a support company that gives people prosthetics for injuries they get in villain attacks.” She explained. And that got his mind thinking. Ah! That’s why the name Yaoyorozu sounded familiar. Yaoyorozu Industries! “So my thought was that I could become a hero to stop these people from getting hurt in the first place!”

Hmmm. She seems to be most of the way to being a true hero, she wants to prevent people from getting injured.

“And what about you, Midoriya. Why do you want to be a hero?” She asked.

And that made him think. Why did he want to be a hero? The truth was that being a hero was only part of his grand plan. He wanted to change society. But he couldn’t just up and say that out loud.

“Well, I know it sounds sort of stupid.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I wanted to be a hero just like All Might! Saving everyone with a smile on my face, reassuring everyone! I think that’s what a true hero is!”

He may have slipped up when he said “true hero”, but that’s whatever. He wants to plant the seeds of Stain’s ideology in every heroic candidate. It may be subtle, but in any of the hero classes at UA, the recommended students were supposed to be the best of the best, the cream of the crop. People would look up to him. He can use this position of respect to convince people of Stain’s ideology. It would be a slow, gradual process.

“No that’s not stupid.” She said. “It makes sense that All Might inspires a lot of people.” She walked into UA, he followed suit, engaging in casual conversation.

One by one, people filtered into the room until there was around fifty people in the presentation room, Present Mic was there, dressed in his usual costume and hair sticking up like a banana or something.

“Welcome recommendation students! You’ll be taking the written exam shortly! I’m just here to make sure that everyone who received a recommendation is currently present. Akuyikuro Sashi, recommendation from Edgeshot?”

“Here.” A girl with black hair so dark that he couldn’t see the individual hairs on her head. It just looked like she had some void on her head replied.

“Aokorishi Itona, recommendation from the Attrishu Group?”

“Here.” A boy with spiky blue hair and ice-blue eyes replied.

One by one Present Mic ensured that everyone was there. When he announced “Todoroki Shoto, recommendation from Endeavor.”, everyone looked in the direction of a teen with spit red and white hair, as well as heterochromatic eyes responded with “Here.”

Izuku couldn’t help but overhear people whispering around him. “ _The_ Todoroki Shoto?” “It makes sense, his father is the number 2 hero after all.” “How powerful do you think he is?”

At this point he was glad he hadn’t accepted All Might’s recommendation, because the recommendations were announced out loud.

Present Mic finished the list off with “Yoarashi Inasa, recommendation from Swift Lance.”

A large teen with almost shaved brown hair yelled out “Here!” with enthusiasm. He should maybe ask this Yoarashi person why they wanted to be a hero, they seemed to have a lot of energy.

“Great! Now that we confirmed that everybody is here, you can now head off to the exam hall and take the written exam!”

Izuku headed off with the other examinees to the exam hall. He sat down, about three meters from anyone else in the exam hall, and looked down at the packet he had been given, and he started answering the questions. There wasn’t really any sort of order to this exam. Hero history, math, all sorts of science, reading comprehension, quirk analysis, and opinion-based questions were all jumbled in together. There wasn’t even an order to the multiple choice, short-answer, and essay questions. But he went through the test, carefully answering the questions making sure that he answered everything fully. A couple of people had finished the test before him, but he paid them no mind. He had to make sure that everything was the best he could do.

Even though he had double-checked his questions and rewrote parts of 2 essays, he was still the sixth person to complete his assignment, he headed off in the direction of the waiting room. He was about to take out his phone and a page of the Death Note, before he glanced up and saw there was a security camera looking out over the room. Nope, he didn’t want to be on camera. He got up and went over to Snipe, who was standing guard over the waiting room. “Excuse me, I would like to go to the bathroom.”

“Ok, sure sonny, just don’ take too long. Bathroom is over there.” Snipe said, pointing in the direction of where Izuku knew the bathrooms already were. He looked at a basic floor plan of the school beforehand.

Once he was in the bathroom, he pulled out his phone, as well as his Hero Analysis notebook, which had a page of the Death Note stowed inside of it.

“Ah, so you're finally going to use the Death Note? Why’d you wait so long?” Ryuk asked. Izuku had expected the shinigami to say something during the day, he had been unusually quiet.

“Well I’ve been looking for people that are so despicable they deserve to die. I took a step back and realized I had lost my focus. I think I finally found someone.” He said, pulling up an article on his phone. It was a wanted poster for one Nirekenovysk Matchiavellsky. “This man apparently is a major informant for all sorts of villain groups and even heroes who needed some connections to darker places.” He looked at the name and the face that was on the poster, and wrote it down in the sheet of the Death Note he had with him.

“There, that should be good.” He closed the notebook.

As he got up to wash his hands, Ryuk decided to speak up. “Why did you pretend to go to the bathroom, and not just write it down where you were?”

“There was a security camera in that room. Of course, there could be more, knowing what I do about the UA principal, Nezu. I’m pretty sure that Nezu knows about the Kira case, and would be happy to show security footage to help the investigation.” He replied.

“Ah, being overly cautious, how interesting.”

“Well, being overly cautious is how I’ll stay out of trouble until Stain’s will is realized.” He said as he left the bathroom, making his way back to the waiting room.

After about another hour and a half, all forty-nine other recommended students had finished the written exam. An official came by and gave them each a number to wear, sort of like a runner, which they needed to place on their chest. Izuku’s number was 42. It felt more than a random number, like it was destiny or something. Eh, it’s random selection, they probably just tumbled all the numbers together or something like that. Ryuk had stayed quiet this entire time, just observing. Apparently the Shinigami hadn’t visited or even seen the human world in over three hundred years, so he was probably just looking at the variety of humanity around him.

Present Mic then came in and told them that it was time for them to take the practical exam. They were escorted to a massive area which looked outrageous, part rollercoaster, part racetrack, fake peaks, a fake forest, rivers, ice bridges, all sorts of crazy stuff.

“You’ll be divided into groups of five for this practical exam. It’s a three kilometer race, but that’s not all! You can use your quirks to complete this crazy course as much as you please! It’s an insane race to the finish line!”

Because of how good he had gotten with names and faces thanks to using the Death Note, he recognized the other four people he was competing against. Number 14, Kotetsu Mirage; a girl who had slightly darker skin, pure white hair, and grey eyes; Number 16, Honenuki Juzo, a guy with light brown hair and no lips, meaning you could see his teeth. It’s sort of creepy, but it’s not his purpose to judge; Number 41, Yoarashi Inasa.

And then number 23, Todoroki Shoto.

As they approached the gate, about to begin the great race, he pierced the core of One for All, letting the energy within it flow through him. Right now, he could only use around 7% without hurting himself. Hopefully that should be enough for him to get him a good position, maybe even first place.

The moment the race started, he jumped forward with 7% of One for All, green lighting dancing across his body, energy thrumming through his veins, it made his vision sharper, it made every experience feel more _real_.

But he wasn’t the only one that had taken off the moment they had started, Todoroki building up ice behind him to propel him, and Yoarashi using what looked like wind and air to propel himself. He spared a glance back to see that Ryuk was having trouble keeping up with his flying. But his overly large mouth was in a massive grin, so he obviously was enjoying himself.

He shook his head. No, he shouldn’t be thinking about Ryuk right now. He pushes all thoughts of Ryuk and the Death Note, him trying to figure out how to get in close with T, and all of that. He had a single purpose for today, to pass-no, excell, at the exam, and become a hero. He was neck-and-neck with the other two people, moving around, jumping forward, and racing forward. He pushed himself when he saw All Might’s thin form sitting in the stands, pushing up to 8%, even though he almost immediately felt sore, his muscles were straining, but he pushed past this, going forward. It was the UA ideal after all, to Go Beyond… Plus Ultra!

He ended up finishing third, a split-second behind Todoroki and Yoarashi, which meant that he was close enough to hear them talk. Not like closeness would really matter when it came to how loud Yoarashi was in conversation.

“Hell yeah! I won!” He yelled out, pumping his arms in excitement. “But who knows what would happen if we raced again, you’re awesome! Aren’t you also Endeavor’s son? So cool!”

“Stop talking.” Izuku heard Todoroki say. It was quieter than he was expecting, and as cold as the ice he used to secure second place. “This is just a race, after all. Passing is all that matters. Now excuse me.” With that, he rushed off somewhere.

He barely had an opportunity to think about what Todoroki had just said, before Yoarashi approached him as well. “So cool dude! I can’t believe you’ve got such hot-blooded passion about being a hero!”

“Yeah.” he said. “I mean, I wanted to be a hero just like All Might, so I should do my best. Why do you want to be a hero Yoarashi?”

Becoming a hero looked like something that was important to him, so he stood up straight. “Well I’ve always been fearless, enjoying the coolest things out there. I quickly found out about heroes. Such passion, the energy they have! The heroic look in their eyes! Their red-hot energy that gave them the force to fight against villains, to dive headfirst into action! How could I not like heroes?

“Well except Endeavor.” That made him even more. He had always thought that while Endeavor was certainly a very competent hero, he was the Number 2 hero after all, but something felt… off about him. “He had this look in his eyes, like he was angry about something far away. I don’t know what it was. But that’s why I want to be a hero, because they dive into fighting headfirst. What about you Midoriya! You said you wanted to be a hero just like All Might, but I see that there’s energy in your eyes like nothing I’ve seen before. So what is your passion, Midoriya?”

Ignoring Ryuk laughing beside him, that made him think. He should try to be more subtle about what he wants, if someone like Yoarashi could see past him. So what does he say? Definitely not the _truth_.

“I want to save people with a smile on my face, reassure everyone, make sure that people change. I want to be a symbol just like All Might.”

“Well I wish you luck Midoriya! I hope you pass!” With that, he waited for the interview process to begin.

He didn’t know what he was expecting when he walked into the interview. There were two men and two women dressed in perfectly tailored suits, each of them holding clipboards and holding a pen, a mug of coffee sitting in front of them. In between the four of them sat the UA principal, Principal Nezu. All he knew of the UA principal was that he was an animal with a quirk that basically made him a genius. Rather than coffee, the principal had a cup of tea in front of him, but he did have a clipboard in front of him.

“Welcome, Midoriya Izuku, to the interview section of the UA recommendation entrance exam. I am Principal Nezu, and I will be the chief interviewer.” After a brief pause, he watched as the UA principal was lost in thought and his tail swished around for a bit. “I think I will ask the first question. Midoriya, why did Kamui Woods recommend you?”

“Well my mom works at his agency, she’s some sort of manager or administrator. I trained there often, and I showed enough promise that he sent out a recommendation.”

The woman who was sitting on Nezu’s right side, who introduced herself as Akatsuki Neri, asked the next question “What would you do if you wouldn’t be a hero?”

He answered every question he could with as much honesty as he could without revealing too much. After several more questions, he was dismissed.

“This is such an interesting world, Izuku. I never could imagine that humanity has changed so drastically in three hundred years.”

“Well quirks started appearing two hundred years ago when a glowing baby was born in China. How quirks spread to the world, people have no clue.”

“Ooooh. A mystery. How interesting. And you say that the investigators think that Kira kills with a quirk?”

“Yes, so they’re going to spend a lot of time looking into the quirks of people. Which is going to be entirely wasted time. Because the Note is not a quirk, after all.”

“Indeed, the Death Note has been around for far longer than ‘quirks’. So what are you going to do now? You have quite a bit of free time now, are you going to use the Note more?”

“I need to do some more research into the worst of the worst when it comes to criminals. Not every criminal deserves to die for petty crimes. I think I need some time to set up standards about what types of criminals deserve to die.”

“Fair enough.”

He had to be patient, go after the people that heroes can’t reach, or won’t reach. He has yet to find a fake hero, but he’s confident he’s got a lead on one of them. A relatively (probably purposefully) hero known as Avast, who had apparently used his influence as a hero to cover up some of the crimes of his buddies.

Avast didn’t go to UA, so he didn’t have the sports festival to find his secret identity. He would need to dig further to find the truth.

But he would find who Avast really was. Nobody would escape the will of Kira.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> Noteworthy


	9. Noteworthy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mostly Stain-focused chapter, but there's some more advancement from the Hero side.

Chizome looked up at a screen that was broadcasting. The pro hero Avast had been killed of a heart attack. Kira’s doing. Huh, Avast had been a hero he had been looking into for quite some time, but he had not been able to find enough evidence to take him out. Looks like Kira found enough evidence first.

What he needs is a line of communication with Kira, some way to reach out to this person without All for One knowing, and finding out through him. But in order to do that, he would have to find a way to personally communicate with Kira. From what he can tell, from the fact the killings started a little over two months ago, only a few days after he was revealed to the wider world thanks to Mechanicus MK6’s live stream. Which probably meant that this Kira had been inspired by him, sort of like how Dabi was. But of course Dabi wasn’t nearly as powerful as this Kira person was. But why hadn’t Kira reached out to him directly? It doesn’t make sense for someone who had been inspired by him to not reach out to him. Or maybe he had been thinking too highly of himself. He should be more humble, after all. He shouldn’t get too wrapped up in his own self-image. He’s not some divine arbiter of justice. He’s a tool for a greater cause, just like this Kira person. To purge the world of fake heroes. Or maybe he could take a page out of Kira’s notebook, and start killing off criminals. His first priority should be the League of Villains, but he’s done some research into All for One, he accessed proprietary information, forgotten servers, information partly corrupted.

This All for One was over 200 years old, hailing from the beginning of the age of quirks, his own allowing him to give, take, and store quirks as he pleases. He had even seen a report that All Might and All for One had fought. From what he could tell from these ancient documents, he should trust what the supervillain has to say with a grain of salt. But what he should do now is tell All Might that his nemesis has survived their battle. He took out one of the burner phones that he had, and sent an eMail saying that All for One was still alive. He didn’t have proof, but hopefully the rumor would be enough to cause an investigation. 

And that would help Kira as well. He mused, leaping around, making sure to stay hidden. He should think of Kira as a partner. Working together for the same goal. He darted into an alleyway, one he knew well, and from there he entered an abandoned apartment block. This was where he and Dabi lived. All for One had assured them that they could stay in rooms at the bar, but he said that he would wait for it for now. He was well aware he was more useful to Shigaraki, and by extension All for One, as a martyr rather than a living figure, even with his association to the League. He had fallen into a trap, it seemed. But maybe there’s a way out. He's in a whole new world, it seems.

“Any luck in finding Kira?” He heard Dabi ask.

“Not for now. But I do need to find them before Shigaraki does.” He replied, sitting down at the folding table they had. “Do you think there’s a way of sending him a message of sorts? I couldn’t think of a way myself.”

“Yeah me neither.” Dabi said, laying himself down on the old, torn couch they had. “Anyways, enough about Kira, I think I found two people that have been moved by your ideology, enough to join up with us perhaps.”

“Are you in communication with them?”

In response, Dabi grabbed his phone and showed it to him. “The three of us created a group chat, so I know a little about each of them.”

“What can you tell me?” If this were true, it would mark the third and forth people directly inspired by his video, not to mention the fact that it had started internationally. There was already a copycat in America, a second in Australasia, and rumors of others scattered around the world.

“The first one’s name is Toga. She’s a bit crazy, but she’s been trying her best to go along with your will. The second calls himself Spinner, real name’s Iguchi Suichi. Hasn’t done much of anything, but really does seem quite interested in what you’re saying.”

“Alright, when do you think that I can meet these individuals?”

“Tomorrow night, is there a specific location you’d like?”

His mind goes through the list of abandoned buildings and other out-of-the-way places they could potentially meet up.

“What about the abandoned train station in the edges of Kamino? That seems like a good place to meet up.”

“Sure, I’ll text them that. Anything else you need?”

“Not for now.”

* * *

“I don’t understand this, Kira usually goes after criminals. First he stops for a while, then kills a wanted criminal, then a few days later a hero dies? What does Kira think he’s doing!” One of the interns identifying evidence for the Kira case exclaims. “Why is he going after heroes all of a sudden?”

“No, wait.” said Kamui Woods. “Avast left a note before he died of a heart attack. It’s a pretty extensive one, describing all of the crimes he has committed, which are primarily hiding the crimes of other heroes, as well as taking bribes from villains and general embezzlement. So he wasn’t a direct criminal, but taking him out means that Kira can go after the people he’s protecting.”

 _“So Kira is even more like Stain, not discriminating against heroes just because they’re heroes. I have a theory that Kira has met Stain recently, because the killings have shifted. Have you double-checked the quirk registry?”_ T asked from behind the laptop screen.

“Yes, we have.” Death Arms said from where he was sitting. “And nothing matches up to what Kira is capable of.”

_“What if Kira is not using a quirk?”_

That surprised everyone. “What do you mean by that, T?” Detective Tsukauchi asked. “I mean, how else could he be killing these people remotely.”

_“I don’t know. It could be something else. I’m not exactly sure what else to do from here.”_

Detective Tsukauchi’s phone rang at that point. “Excuse me, I have a phone call.” He said, making his way out of the room.

Once he was out of the room, he opened his phone to see that it was from Yagi. He had instructed that he not call him unless there’s something important. So he did not hesitate in answering the phone. “Hey Yagi, why are you calling.”

 _“I got an anonymous email that if it’s correct, we might need to take drastic action.”_ Yagi said from the other side of the phone. 

And if _that_ didn’t terrify him. What could Yagi be worried about enough in order to take drastic action? Did Yagi find out about Kira, or was it some other new powerhouse. He didn't get paid enough for this. “What was the content of the anonymous email?”

_“The sender of the anonymous email claimed that All for One survived the battle six years ago.”_

That made him tense up. Even if it was a rumor… this was something that should be taken seriously. “Was there any details that were added to the email? Because if it’s just a name then we should do some investigation ourselves.”

_“The email describes the aura All for One has around him, the scarring on his face, and him describing how the villain’s quirk works.”_

So it was more than just a rumor then. “It’s possible then, but we should look for evidence to confirm it. Have you tried to trace the email?”

_“Yes, but we didn’t find much of anything. It’s a throwaway email that is currently deactivated, so there’s not much we can do at this point.”_

“I think you should tell him about this, he should know what to do.”

_“Are you sure? I haven’t talked to him in years.”_

“Just do it, Yagi.”

_“...I’ll see what I can do.”_

He finished the call, and went back into the room.

“Sorry everyone, I needed to take the call, it was important.” He said, sitting back down to where he was originally.

 _“That’s fine.”_ T said. _“We were just talking about how seemingly contradictory the actions of Kira have been lately. What do you think of this, especially with our theory that Kira and Stain have met.”_

“I think that’s accurate, which is terrifying to think about. The force of ideology they have together is not something to take lightly. With them going after what they consider fake heroes, people are going to start looking more critically at heroes in general.” Midoriya Inko pointed out. 

_“Which is what they want. We’ve been put in a difficult situation because of this. Although I’m curious how our internet outreach has been going. Ōtādoragon, what have you found?”_

The teenage girl in question stood up. “Well, I set up an anonymous tip line, and I got a… variety of responses. We got 12,497 different leads on where Kira could be, how they kill, or other things about them. The vast majority of it was wild theorizing, and there wasn't much in the way of substance. We got even more messages which were just praises for either Kira or Stain, or detracting the police and heroes in general, or just trolling.

“Furthermore, there were 334 people who claimed that they were Kira. Naturally we followed up on these claims, but we didn’t find Kira among those people who had false claims.” She said, sitting down. “Our internet outreach hasn’t borne much fruit.”

_“I still think that we need to keep that tip line open. Even if we have to sift through tens of thousands of falsehoods to find a single kernel of truth, it would be worth it. Keep at it.”_

* * *

He had managed to get to the train station rather easily. The hero presence in Kamino ward wasn’t as big as he thought it was, and there wasn’t a single vigilante to boost the numbers of crime fighters. Maybe that’s why All for One decided to base the League there.

But that allowed him to get to the abandoned train station he had mentioned without delay. Dabi had mentioned that he couldn’t get over there, because he had things to take care of apparently. That’s his way of saying that he wants to go out and forget the pain that his injuries constantly cause him. It’s not his place to judge what Dabi gets up to when he goes off and does whatever. He would like for Dabi to not destroy himself, but he can’t really stop him.

His life had gotten so complicated in the past couple of months. He reflected on everything that had happened since that one video of him went global. The appearance of Kira, acquiring his own team, meeting the League of Villains…

But that’s a good thing in a way. His life being more complicated means his message had travelled. Like how now he was meeting up with two people who were inspired by the video. He just had to make sure they weren’t undercover heroes or police. Which was a possibility at this point. The video has been uploaded to YouTube several times. Sure it kept being taken down, but inevitably someone has a new copy. They mirror it, flip it upside down, split-screen it, mess with the audio, everything under the sun you can think of. That’s proof enough that people think change needs to happen, that society is filled with false heroes. Hero schools that churn out as many “heroes” as they can so they get more government funding. Too many “heroes” out there are little more than people with above-average quirks looking for an ego boost.

Now he wasn’t denying that heroes were needed, but they needed to change. A new world, where only those who are true and incorruptible can become heroes. Hopefully he can enact change.

He had given them further directions to get to the third platform. When he saw the two people standing there, he gave a sigh of relief. He didn’t sense anyone else in the area. The first person was a teenage girl, with a schoolgirl’s costume and a sweater, hair in messy buns, and eyes that were so bloodthirsty it even gave him pause. The second person had a lizard-like appearance, green scales, dull pink hair, and what some people would call a “cosplay” of his costume, but he felt that the better word to call it was “inspiration”.

“Hiya Stainy! My name’s Toga Himiko! When I saw your video, I couldn’t help but be inspired to change society! People always thought I was evil because of my quirk!” The girl, now identified as Toga said, almost cheerfully. Something about her was creepy in a way that unsettled him. He wasn’t unsettled that easy, so of course that was unusual. “And what is your quirk, Toga?”

“When I drink someone’s blood, I can transform into that person!”

“Well I don’t think that’s a villainous quirk at all, Toga. And what about you?” He turned and asked the lizard-looking guy.

“My name is Iguchi Suichi, but you can call me Spinner. And I don’t want my quirk to define me. Anyway, I saw what your goal was. I haven’t done much of anything with my life, but I have a purpose now.”

Well, these are the people that Dabi had found to help him. They seemed good enough, and while Dabi spent half of his time either drunk, high, or passed out in some rando’s bed, the other half of the time he was effective at what he did. It was a weird dichotomy that he couldn’t wrap his head around. The young man was as strange as they come. “Unfortunately Dabi can’t be here right now, but I’ll tell you about what’s going on. We’re currently working with an organization calling themselves the League of Villains. I know it’s an idiotic name, but their leader Shigaraki Tomura knows what he’s talking about. I’ll bring you to meet them when I can. So that’s the plan as of right now. Any questions?”

The two of them shook their heads. “Great. There’s an abandoned apartment block on Dakio street. We have a hideout on the fourth floor, you can hang out there if you want. I don’t really care that much. Anything else you guys need?”

“Nope.” They said. And with that, he left.

These people were all important, but he wanted to find the person behind Kira. He could help them.


	10. Observation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are moving faster now. A POV from T, and more information about the Traitor.

Should he try to find Stain?

That was the question that he had been asking pretty much every day since the recommendation exam. There was quite a bit of public support for him as Kira, and it was the same for Stain. So working together, sharing information, they could get so much more done.

But then again, there was a great risk in revealing his identity to _anyone_. There had to be another way he could get into contact Stain.

Of course, a secret identity! Another one! Maybe this is what Ryuk meant when he needed a better name. He tossed an apple to Ryuk, who ate it eagerly.

“I think it’s a good idea to work with Stain. Not as Kira, of course, but as someone else. I need a secret identity.” He opened up a desk drawer that didn’t have an obvious handle, revealing a black cloak and a black mask. “I picked these out about a year ago when I first started to train to be a hero. I thought that I would go out and be a vigilante. I even picked out a name, Seishin. Of course I didn’t go out, but at least I have a name and a costume.”

“So you’re just going to go out and try to find Stain? How interesting.”

“Of course. He’s been operating in Kamino Ward recently, if what these people on the websites are saying.” He turned the screen so that Ryuk could see it. “There’s thousands of these online forums, either on independent websites or tucked away in obscure corners of larger websites, that provide all sorts of discourse and information about either Stain and Kira. While I would consider this annoying if there was any information about me on there, people have found pretty much nothing about me.

“But I pierced together rumors and disjointed sightings or random bits of trivia and managed to figure out he’s somewhere in Kamino. And he’s apparently getting a team or something. Although I’m not sure exactly how true those rumors are. I think Stain would work better alone.”

“So you’re going to go out?” Ryuk asked.

In response, he closed the cabinet. “Nah, not today. I’m going to wait until it’s the weekend. My mom’s going to be gone the entire weekend trying to gather evidence for the Kira case. Of course there’s very little evidence for the killings, so she’ll be busy all weekend. And it’s still about a month until my first day at UA, so I can use this weekend to further the cause.”

“Are you that confident you can get into UA? There were fifty people in the recommended exam.”

“Of course, even though I got third in my section, my entire section had some of the best competitors in it. Plus I think I nailed the written exam. I’m still not sure about the interview.”

* * *

T looked out at all the papers that he had gathered together about Kira. Quirk analysis had proven negative. Anyone who had a quirk that had the capability of producing a heart attack in the greater Musutafu area were asked to voluntarily enter questioning by the police. 384,316 people were identified, and about a quarter of them accepted. Getting through 94,102 people had put strains on what the Heroes and Public Safety Commission had allocated him in terms of resources, but at least they could eliminate that many people from the suspicion list.

But, this case was far from concluded. As Mr. Taylor had shown, Kira is capable of killing at a distance, even through a screen. And his kills had shifted in the past months, from a large group of them, to doing exactly what Stain had been doing, killing wanted criminals and fake heroes.

Wait, that’s it! The earlier killings, the ones that happened before his announcement. He had assumed there was some sort of meaning behind it. Perhaps Kira had been spooked by his announcement? Or maybe there had been a moment of realization, that he’s actually been confronted with his actions. But then he started up again, this time more closely following Stain’s ideology when it comes to his killings. Perhaps he had changed again? A brief crisis of faith, but he rallied himself together and continued? That must mean that Kira is not that old, which was worrying. In fact, he was sure that this was the case. Anyway, it was time for him to talk to Kamui Wood’s hero agency. Perfect time to reveal what he had discovered.

He switched on his computer.

 _“So Detective Tsukauchi, you’re saying that nobody you investigated is Kira?”_ One of the interns said.

_“Yes. Sorry for none of that working out, T.”_

“It’s fine. I didn’t expect Kira to willingly come into questioning. I think I have some information to reveal about Kira, more importantly his age.”

 _“What do you mean by that, T? Did you discover some new piece of evidence?”_ Death Arms asked.

“Well it’s not physical evidence but more of a deduction. In the beginning, before my announcement, Kira murdered three hundred twelve villains in two weeks. In the two months following my announcement, Kira has only killed nineteen villains. After my announcement, Kira stopped for a week, but then he resumed by killing Nathaniel Baray-Zheczhin, a wanted drug lord, the beginning of his Stain-like killings. I think that Kira is younger than we initially thought.”

There were a bunch of gasps and other sounds of surprise coming from the intern team.

_“What do you mean by that, T? You think we’re dealing with a teenager?”_

“Yes, I do. Compound that with the fact that Stain is most popular among teenagers, I think it’s a great possibility that Kira is a teenager. So we should continue this investigation with this in mind.”

 _“You said that Stain_ _is popular among teenagers. Do you think there’s a possibility that teenagers supporting Stain’s ideology are going to apply to hero schools?”_ Kamui Woods asked. _“It’s something we need to look into, in my opinion.”_

“I already reached out to some hero schools. Shiketsu, Ketsubutsu and Seijin have already agreed to tighten their restrictions. UA, Isamu, Seiai, and Jiyami still have yet to respond, although I’m sure they’ll respond to me soon.”

_“Good. I’m glad that you already addressed that.”_

“It was something that I had to address, even though it was low on my priority list. I just need to have more evidence…”

Kira, what is going through your mind? There has to be a piece he’s missing, some critical _thing_ that would make this all make sense. He had already confirmed that Kira was in the area, and was a teenager, so it was most likely that he hadn’t moved. What other things could he pierce together from the evidence? There had been some data about who supported Stain, so he brought the data that had been aggregated from all sorts of international organizations, everything from the Jiyang to the FBI to the GZDL. They identified that supporters of Stain, particularly in Japan, were either teenagers or adults who were disillusioned with society. In essence, the same type of crowd that would become the earlier and most ardent followers of a fascistic regime.

A part of him tells him he should look at the ideological threat Stain poses. While the Hero Killer himself has only been involved in around 40 incidents, 17 deaths and 23 heroes being permanently disabled, Lone-wolf killings from nameless villains, killings from Kira, and opportunistic prosecutors and lawyers have resulted in 94 heroes no longer in service, all within two and a half months.

The Hero Killer had shaken Japan to its core, and Kira is apparently hell-bent on ensuring that the shockwaves spread worldwide.

But Kira, what do you gain from this? Why are you doing this?

* * *

“Seriously Izuku, why exactly are you doing this?” Ryuk asked him.

Izuku was decked out in his vigilante costume complete with mask, trenchcoat, and the remainder of his disguise. He had taken a train to Kamino, and was currently on one of the rooftops, looking over the town. He used One for All at around 1%, the largest amount he could use without the green lightning effect surrounding him, he could pass it off as a minor strength enhancement quirk, which would also distance himself from Kira.

“I would imagine that Stain is a slippery eel. He’s been active for years, after all. I’m just looking around for someone who might be useful.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone that looked like they were waiting for another person. He couldn’t see much from his vantage point, but it looked like this guy had some pretty extensive scarring. Sure he was cloaked in shadow, but something about this guy made him think that he was connected to Stain.

He double-checked his pocket, making sure there was a piece of the Death Note in there. It was there, half a sheet of paper neatly folded. He had taken to carrying a piece of the Death Note wherever he went. He never used it, of course, he hadn’t seen anyone that was worthy of him using the Death Note.

But it made him feel safe, that and a combination of One for All. With that in mind, he dropped down and walked in the direction of the guy. Unsurprisingly, he jerked up and looked in his direction. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” The guy asked, hackles obviously raised.

“I was just interested in finding Stain. I haven’t done much yet.” He lied. “But I’m interested in showing everyone what a true hero can be.”

He watched this mysterious person slowly become less defensive. “Leave me your number and I’ll ask you some vetting questions. M’names Dabi by the way.”

Izuku took out a piece of paper not from the Death Note, scrawled the number from his burner phone, and handed it off to Dabi, an obviously fake name. “What can I call you? For the contact, obviously.”

“Seishin” He answered, leaping away.

"Well, what’s the whole point of doing all of this? You didn’t even reach Stain today?” Ryuk said. “It seems like a waste of time to me.”

“Don’t worry about that, Ryuk. I now know that Stain has a team. I’ve said this before, but information is key.”

He had gotten home at this point, browsing the forums looking for rumors. Has someone done something recently? A wanted criminal? A corrupt hero? One of those powers-that-be that deem themselves unstoppable institutions of might? Well he can bring them down from the comfort of his own home.

* * *

Tomura looked at the amount of people that he had gathered. Nobodies. Trash, the scum of this earth. But apparently Sensei had a plan, and it involved him meeting their little mole in person. The UA entrance exams were still a week or so away, but Sensei was confident their mole would be successful.

But now he could meet them in person. Apparently Sensei had given them a quirk, one of his more volatile, dangerous quirks, at age three. Their quirk triggered normally at age four, and they lived a relatively normal life.

Except they had been trained, the quirk expanded, made more powerful, combat skill, education, and most importantly;

Acting.

The door to the bar burst open, and they strode in. The perfect balance of confident and casual. Was this who they really were, or was it a mask behind a mask? They could slip from one personality to the next as easily and fluidly as if they had been that way all their life, never wavering, never slipping.

“What up, Tomura.” They said, slipping into the barstool right next to him. “Kurogiri, give me the usual.” And to this surprise, Kurogiri began working on something immediately.

“Don’t be worried about me passing, I think I can do that pretty easily, even in my new persona. But what did you really want me for?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were what Sensei said you were. And you sure do play the part well. I think you will just be perfect.”

Yes, yes you are perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be updating every day, to be honest I've been neglecting my other works, and this was honestly unsustainable. So new update schedule! (hopefully)  
> This will get an update every Wednesday and Saturday.  
> So stay tuned for the next update to be on Saturday!
> 
> Next Chapter: Turbulence


	11. Turbulance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Main entrance exam happens, and Principal Nezu gets instructions from T how to secure UA better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, writing Bakugo's POV is difficult, but I did it. We also get some more of the traitor POV.  
> Technically, I completed this on Saturday (in my time zone), but AO3 is weird...  
> Anyway, expect a chapter Wednesday :)  
> In other news: 100 kudos! w00t! never expected such a great reception in so short a time :)

**UA Teacher Staff Meeting: The day before the standard UA heroics entrance exam**

“Principal Nezu, you can’t be serious!” A tired-looking man wearing all black and having a crazy-looking scarf yelled out angrily. “You mean that one of the applicants to our school could be Kira? This is insanity!”

“Calm down Aizawa.” A smartly dressed animal, something between a mouse, a small bear and a dog, who was called Principal Nezu, said, waving his paw at the tired-looking man, Aizawa. “I heard this straight from T himself. He gave this message to other hero schools in the nation. I can only say what T told me, but apparently Kira is a follower of Stain, or at least believes in his ideology.”

“Fucking hell, everything these past few months have been about Stain.” A guy dressed like a cowboy whispered to a guy wearing a scary-looking, mostly black, mask.

“Anyway, T determined that Kira is not that old, he’s a teenager. Combine that with him believing in Stain’s ideology, and the fact that Kira is in the area, T has concluded that there is a 27% chance that Kira is going to, or is currently attending, UA at this time. Therefore we will take some precautions.”

“Wait,” A large man with a red costume and white hair spoke up. “We’re going to take precautions on a 27% chance?”  
“Kan.” Aizawa cut in. “If there was a 1 in 4 chance that you were going to die, you would take every chance you could to prevent those deaths, yes? Well then, listen to the Principal, he knows what he’s talking about.”

Kan, admonished, sat back down.

“Thank you for that, Aizawa.” Principal Nezu said, crossing his paws. “Now, Aizawa, Kan, we’re going to give you fake names. Aizawa, you are now Tadeki Kitaro. Kan, you are now Ishiyama Takeda. And as an additional precaution, we will pick hero names for first-years before the Sports Festival. For everyone, you will bring up Stain’s ideology in your lessons, see who is more sympathetic to his ideals than others. Of course, security will be heightened, and we’re already commissioning the construction of dorms.”

“Why dorms?” The western-themed teacher asked. “If the scoundrel’s really hidin’ as a student, won’t puttin’ all the fish in a barrel just put everyone at risk? Doesn’t seem like a good decision to me.”

“My reasoning is simple, we can use it to monitor the students more. Of course there won’t be cameras and microphones in the individual rooms, bathrooms, or showers, but we should still hear some conversations that happen when we are not present.

“This may seem insufficient, but we don’t know anything about how Kira operates.”

* * *

Katsuki looked around at everyone who was walking around UA for the entrance exam. More specifically, he was looking around for a familiar green shock of hair. Sure there were some people who had green hair, but none of them have the dark green curls that Deku had.

Huh, so the nerd wasn’t going to the entrance exam after all. Serves him right. He can finally start his heroic journey. Stupid Deku had been a pebble in his path for far too long.

Ha! Even with your family connections, you still failed! That just goes to show what a stupid quirkless Deku you are.

He looked around at everyone else around him. Nobody that looked intimidating at all. He slipped into the written exam hall, and then went to the seat he had been assigned. When he was allowed to start the exam, he opened it up.

This was fuckin’ easy! Who made this exam? It was so easy he had to resist the urge to double check his work. Of course he was right the first time, why would he need to double check his answers?

He went into the room where apparently they were going to get some information about the practical exam. Everyone taking the entrance exam was there. He looked around one final time. Maybe he had missed Deku or something like that. But no, there was no angrily familiar bushy green hair anywhere in the hall.

Some extra with crazy styled hair (Present Mic? Was that his name? Deku would know) was explaining what was going on. All that he got is that he had to beat up a ton of robots. So yeah, that’s pretty much all he has to do.

He was about to get up and leave for the area he had been given, but some guy stood up and started yelling about pamphlets and a different type of robot and how this was a “misprint”. What the hell, Examinee 7111, or whatever your damn name is, he was getting to that. Couldn’t you tell? Just shut up, sit down, and let Present Mic or whoever it was explain what is going on. Fucking hell. However, the presenter guy continued on uninterrupted, explaining that the fourth robot was just “like an obstacle in video games, just ignore it! It’s big, bulky, and worth zero points, so there’s no need to fight it!”

He had the vague sense there was something more to this zero-pointer, but they would never _lie_ to them about it. So it was still worth zero points. He should just ignore it and fight more one, two, and three pointers. Sounds like a plan to him.

Bakugou Katsuki was _loving_ this. He could forget everything related to damn Deku and all the bullshit around that nonsense when he’s destroying bots. They’re made of cheap, flimsy metal. Well they had to be, even UA’s budget isn’t infinite.

One-pointers, two-pointers, three-pointers, they all fall apart beneath his explosions. How could he not enjoy having all this power at his fingertips? He blasted off, using his explosions to propel himself. He saw a cluster of three-pointers just roaming around. From what he knew of the three-pointers, they had weak points on the spine and joints. He should attack the spine, as that’s the point where the metal plates collect together. A blast there, there and there. Reach inside, explosion on the inside near a key wire complex. The three pointer collapsed. Heh, Deku would be fucking useless with all of these robots running around. They’d crush him like a bug. Wait, what the hell are you doing Katsuki? Stop worrying about stupid Deku, he’s long gone. As much as he hated to acknowledge it, Deku’s smart. After all, he did still have the highest grades in their middle school, despite how much he fuckin’ tried to surpass the nerd. He even started to fuckin’ study again!

Forget Deku, Katsuki. You’re here at UA and he’s not. Destroy these three-pointers, get the best score on both the written exam and the practical exam, get into whatever class he was in, continue to be the best (even over those damn recommendation students), and become the Number One hero, over All Might!

A thought crept into his mind as he blew up a second three-pointer, which brought his total to fifty-six. Auntie worked at Kamui Wood’s agency, she was like a manager or administrator at his agency. Fuck! Stupid Deku probably took the recommendation exam! That’s why he’s not here, he took the damn recommendation exam! He destroyed a third robot. Of course he would ask his mom for a recommendation from Kamui Woods. Even though the Arbor Hero has better things to do. Like defeating Kira. Of course he hated Kira! He was a cowardly villain that killed people at a distance. Although maybe _he_ could catch Kira! Kira was the greatest villain of this time, even T was hunting him down! He had watched the report which showed exactly how much of a genius this T character was. He showed that Kira was in the area, which means it was even easier to hunt down Kira!

If Kamui Woods ever offered him an internship, he would accept it without hesitation. Of course he would hunt down Kira, and he can use this to his advantage.

All of the robots in this area were destroyed, he alit his hands again and blasted off to another location.

* * *

Shigaraki’s plan was stupid.

They had to admit that Shigaraki was smart about some things, he was good at video games, a genius at most video games actually. Actually Shigaraki was pretty much a genius, but this one plan was stupid. Or maybe it was Sensei’s idea. Whatever. But they had been told to do their very best during the entrance exam, both on the written exam and the practical.

But what Shigaraki forgot was that they were going in disguise. If they used their quirk to its fullest potential, it would be far too suspicious. They knew what they were doing. 

And they were loyal to Sensei, after all, not to Shigaraki. And Sensei had told them to use their judgement. So that’s what they are going to do. While Shigaraki was a genius, All for One was as smart if not smarter, and he also had dozens of years of experience to go along with it, after all.

They looked around at the crowd, eyeing up their opponents. A girl with flaming (literally) red hair, a guy with six-foot tentacles instead of arms, all sorts of people with extra limbs, crazy-colored hair, and all sorts of things like that. Compared to the extent that some people’s mutations go to, they look pretty normal. They went into the place where the written exam was, and sat down, making sure to not be too late, but not early either.

The exam was easy, of course, but they made sure to make reasonable mistakes. There were two types of questions on this exam. The right/wrong questions were easy, just make sure to have a mix of correct answers, the mostly-right incorrect answers, and the wrong incorrect answers. The longer-form questions were more difficult to get wrong in the right way, but then they remembered one of Sensei’s lessons. Solving difficult questions like this was just connecting disparate pieces of information together until you get what you want. So the way to not have as many points is to connect these pieces wrong. Which was something they could do. It was easy, in fact, which gave them time to think about what they needed to do.

They needed to escape from All for One.

Ever since they had gotten their quirk, not only them but their entire family was under the thumb of that villain. All for One was almost impossibly strong, to the point where the only person in the entire _world_ that could even hope to _tie_ against the villain was All Might, the hero that stood above all others. That was primarily because All for One couldn’t take All Might’s quirk for some reason. They had asked several times, but All for One refused to answer.

But there was an opening for them to maybe have an escape. Stain. Stain had shown up, and in the span of a couple days, his team numbered four (with a rumored fifth on the way) But the thing about Stain was that Stain’s team wasn’t connected to the League, so they could maybe use that to escape.

And then there’s Kira. They were thankful to Kira, because one of the criminals that Kira killed early on was their own uncle. Because of that, they could eke out some freedom and have less training every day.

They _wanted_ to find Kira. That’s why they’re still loyal to the League, and not trying to run away the moment they had a chance. T was good, they’d give the detective that, but Kira left pretty much no evidence behind on his corpses. All for One was probably smarter than T was, and he had the additional benefit of being more _ruthless_ . Their Sensei would do _anything_ to get his hands on the almighty power that Kira wielded. And hey, they could agree with that. To have the power to kill anyone in the world, and according to the information that Sensei had gathered from the Kira investigation somehow, could even control their actions somewhat before death. That was a terrifying thought to be sure. Out of all the quirks out there, even Sensei’s quirk was weak and pitiful compared to Kira’s. So of course Sensei would want to recruit them. 

But as much as they were under Sensei’s thumb, they sought to break free from Sensei’s influence. Stain was the best chance for them to escape. They just needed to get Stain and Kira together.

When that happens, All for One will _die._

They finished the rest of the written exam. According to the calculations they made, they got anywhere from 55% to 75%, it should be enough for them to pass. The practical exam was another matter.

As they were walking to the entrance, someone approached them. It was a nice-looking girl with pink hair, horns, and pink skin.

“Hello, my name is Ashido Mina, what’s your name?”

“My name is-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know I had to do it to 'em.
> 
> Next Chapter: Experience


	12. Emotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're still not at UA yet...  
> I mean, I'll be there eventually.  
> There's things I need to do first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -pation

She looked at the other person that was at the bar. She had _seen_ him at the entrance exams. Sensei had told her that she was going to have a companion, but she didn’t _believe_ it. Her father had said that she was going to be the only person infiltrating UA. Well, guess he lied. They didn’t _look_ like they were a traitor, except for the smirk they had. Well that was the _point_ , in a way. Maybe it was better than she was expecting. She should say something. Of course, she’s supposed to be cheery, after all.

“How well did you do on the entrance exam? I definitely think I passed, but I nearly died during the entrance exam, it was crazy! How did you do?” She said cheerfully.

“I also probably passed. And you shouldn’t worry about it too much. If you’ve had All for One’s training you most certainly passed. We should focus on finding information at UA. Because get this, All for One thinks that Kira is at UA.”

 _That_ made the gears in her head turn. She hadn’t been in the area, but she had seen the video uploaded later on, about the location of Kira. She had heard things about what T had been able to do, how they had apparently always solved every case they had been on. Of course, T almost immediately proved that Kira was living in a tiny section of Japan, rather than the entire world.

“Wait, why does he think Kira is at UA?”

“Apparently he had gotten his hands on some reports from T, he couldn’t get any more. But what he did manage to secure is that T thinks there is some chance that Kira is attending, or is about to attend UA.” They replied, drinking some bright red liquid from a shot glass.

“Wait, why would Kira want to become a hero?” She asked. “That seems like it wouldn’t work out well. I mean, wouldn’t it be better for him to fly under the radar, it doesn’t make sense to me.”

“I don’t understand it either, but that’s the second reason why we are going to UA, the potential to find Kira.” They responded. “Anyway, there was supposed to be someone else that we’re supposed to meet.” They tossed her a cloak. She grabbed it, and put it on. To her surprise, it fit perfectly. They had their own cloak, and put it on. “Why do we need this?”

It was Shigaraki who answered her, rather than them. “I don’t trust them, and neither does Sensei. So we’re going to conceal your identity.”

“What about you?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you conceal your identity?”

In response, he got up and walked up into the upper areas of the bar. “Where is he going?” She asked.

“He’s getting concealed up. It’s sort of creepy when you see it.”

Ten minutes later, Shigaraki walked back down the stairs. He had all sorts of what looked like severed hands as decorations, he had them on his arms, his torso, his neck and head. There was even a hand covering his face. Some of the hands were connected with thick red tubes of sorts. Creepy indeed.

“They were right, you do look quite creepy in your costume.”

Shigaraki only grumbled. But then his phone rang. Shigaraki drew it out, holding it carefully so he doesn’t disintegrate it.

“What is it? You made contact with her? Alright send her over. Yeah whatever I’ll pay you.” And then he hung up. Her instincts told her that it was rude, but he was a _villain_ , so being rude was to be expected. Or not. Sensei was polite, but maybe that was a mask. It’s hard to tell with supervillains.

* * *

Danjiro Tamshiki never had the best life.

Her mother had died when she was two, and her father didn’t take it well. According to a story from her uncle that she barely remembers, her father used to be a stand-up guy. But when her mother died, it was revealed that she had been cheating later on. A combination of her quirk triggering and DNA testing apparently revealed that she was her father’s real daughter, but her father spiraled, and at the age of twelve she found herself on the streets. Her Aunt and Uncle had picked her up, but she was only with them for a couple of months. She spent the next three years bouncing between homes, until she was on the streets for good. As of right now, she was squatting in an abandoned apartment block with other squatters.

Her quirk helped her quite a bit. It wasn’t powerful by any means. All she could really do was unlock and lock things at a range of about three meters. Nothing too powerful. But she used her quirk to easily break in and out of people’s apartments and houses, eke out a meager living. She never questioned her role in society, she just went along with doing what she had been doing, slipping in and out of what she was doing, never getting caught. But there wasn’t much _purpose_ to what she was doing.

Until she ran into Giran. She had worked with him before, where he wanted her to break into somewhere. So it wasn’t a surprise that he had approached her.

“Breakin, I want you for a job. It’s not your usual work, but the pay’s better.”

“What is this job that you wanted me to do?”

“Follow me.” And with that, Giran walked away. If she didn’t know Giran better she wouldn’t have followed. But she did anyways, continued to follow along to where she was being led.

Giran eventually led her to a run-down bar in Kamino Ward. She was careful to look around for obvious targets, her pistol heavy in her pocket. Sure pistols were illegal, but she _lived_ illegality. “Why are we going to this place, Giran? There’s actually people in here?”

“Yes.”

Giran opened the door and she walked in. There were four people in the room. Two were wearing cloaks, having some sort of conversation with each other, a guy with light blue hair, piercing red eyes that stare right into her soul from between the fingers of a disembodied hand. Oddly, his skin was dull, cold-looking, and almost corpse-pale. He had baggy black clothes as well. There was one more guy, he was behind the bar. He was almost literally a shadow. A well-dressed shadow, but a shadow nevertheless. They had glowing yellow eyes that narrowed when she entered.

“I am Breakin. And how might I refer to all of you?”

It was the shadow that spoke first. “My name is Kurogiri.”

Then there was the guy covered in hands. “I’m Shigaraki, and these people are Crafter.” Shigaraki pointed to the taller cloaked figure. “And Elemental.” He pointed to the other, shorter cloaked figure. “This is the core of the League. There’s also Stain and his crew, but they’re sort of like an offshoot of the League or a group associated with us. I’m not exactly sure of the right way to say it.”

“No, no worries. I understand how complicated things like this are.” This was of course something that she had seen in all sorts of organizations. Shit’s complicated, she gets it. “So, what am I going to be doing?”

“Basically, You’re going to lead a group of people that are going to storm a hero agency. Your goal is the Forests Agency. Your main goal is going to be to take or destroy anything related to the Kira investigation.”

“Storming a hero agency? Especially one of the top 25 hero agencies? I’m just a small-time criminal, I can’t storm a hero agency!”

“Well you will have help, of course. Dabi from Stain’s group as well as Kurogiri will be assisting you, as well as ten or so low-level criminals. This won’t be for a while, though. What we need to have is a diversion first….” 

“So the job’s not going to be for a while?” She asked a bit more angrily then she really wanted. “When exactly is it?”

Shigaraki simply tossed her a burner phone. “I’ll call or text you when to come over here. It’s not going to be until UA starts, so at least two weeks. You can take other deals at that time.”

She grabbed the phone and nodded. “That seems fine, but what about payment.”

Kurogiri grabbed some bills out of nowhere. “This is going to be your first payment. You will receive the rest when you complete the job.”

She nodded again, and then gave a bow. “Thank you, I’ll make sure to be on call. Is there anything else you need?”

“Nope, unless you have something to add?”

“No, not really.” And with that, she left the bar. Giran apparently had something else to talk to Shigaraki about, so she slipped into the night, into the shadows.

Ten minutes later, there was another call from her other burner phone. She didn’t recognize the number, but if anyone had _this_ number, it was obviously something important.

“Hello this is Breakin, what do you need me for?”

_“This is Overhaul. I have a proposal for you.”_

* * *

“Hey Stain!”

He looked up to see Dabi walking in, a pleased look on his face. “I think I found a new recruit for our cause.”

This had been happening in increasing numbers at this point. In his mind’s eye, this had always been a solo mission, him bravely standing against the massive weight of the mainstream society.

But apparently his video opened people’s eyes, as well as the influences of Kira showing how fragile this society was. Most of the time when people tried to chase after him, he just ignored it. But if someone impressed Dabi…

“What do you know about this new recruit?” He asked. It was preliminary questions, y’know? He just needed to check it out.

“Calls himself Seishin, pretty young but devoted to your beliefs, hasn’t done much yet but he sounded young so it makes sense.”

“And you're sure he’s not a hero in disguise? I mean, we’re high-profile enough that we should consider that a possibility.”

“Nah, he looks and sounds like he’s 13. Be surprised if he was older.”

“I’ll set up a private meeting with him. There’s an abandoned manufacturing warehouse on 294 Juyama Street, Fukuoka, next Saturday at 11pm, see if that works for him. If not, see if there’s a time that works for them. Make sure it’s at night though.”

That made Dabi laugh. “And Toga says I’m an edgelord. Well I guess it makes sense, a meeting under the cloak of night. I’ll see what Seishin thinks. Are you going to do anything else tonight?”

“Yeah, I think I found another fake hero.” As much as he didn’t want to admit it, a combination of Kira and around a dozen other independent people doing their own thing was putting pressure on him to find the fakes before others did.

And of course there was the fact that heroes were beginning to shape up, the HPSC was beginning to clean out everything that they had swept under the rug. Which was an inherently _good_ thing. He wasn’t Shigaraki, he didn’t want to tear down society in general. That’s the main way in which they differ.

“Spinner, if you want to come with me, I think I could use some help with this one.” And it was true. Kangdeth was ranked forty-four, but she had a secret. He found out that she secretly killed people, had a second face where she was the brutal killer Mesmer. Out of everyone in the world, he hated those who said they were a hero, but were a villain in practice. Spinner, of course, eagerly went along. “Yeah sure, Who are we going after?”

“Kangdeth. She’s also known as the serial killer Mesmer.”

“Well, let’s go after her then!” And with that, Spinner went into the night.

He followed, of course. Time to kill a fake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at the first letter of each chapter :)


	13. Haven

Izuku’s heart was pounding in his chest as he headed to the location that Dabi had told him to go to to meet Stain. This whole double-triple life thing, he wasn’t sure how long he could sustain it, but meeting up with Stain as Seishin was important. That way, he could work with Stain as Kira without Stain knowing that he was Kira. It was a dangerous prospect, but if he could make it work, he could get some advantage for killing some more fake heroes.

So that’s why he was hanging onto a train, with One for All at 1%, which didn’t cause the very visible green lightning that was _so annoying_ when he was trying to be stealthy. It was enough of One for All to maintain his grip on the end of this train. Of course it’s illegal, but he’s going to meet up with someone the media calls a villain, so illegally hopping on a train was the least of his worries. Also, this way there won’t be a ticket trail.

It was about an hour to where he needed to go, and when he was where he needed to be, he just let go and relied on the enhanced durability from One for All to withstand the impact. Although he really shouldn’t rely on One for All that much. As Seishin he might run the risk of running into Eraserhead, and that would mean he wouldn’t be able to use his newly acquired quirk.

But how powerful was Erasure exactly? He knew that it could erase quirks, but could he still use the Death Note under the gaze of the hero?

He was in the middle of nowhere, so it was safe to ask Ryuk.

“Hey Ryuk, could I use the Death Note if I’m under the effect of Erasure?”

That seemed to make Ryuk think for a while. “I don’t know. What you humans call quirks are all new to me. I don’t think that they can, but it’s honestly up in the air. Wouldn’t surprise me if it somehow did.”

Damn, that might be a problem. He might have to plan around that. He went over to where Dabi had said to meet up. Making sure to check and double-check the surrounding area, to see that there were no heroes in the area. Well at least Dabi knows his stuff, and he doesn’t seem like the type to be a hero or work with the police anyways.

He dropped down to the entrance of the building that Dabi had mentioned. It was a run-down building. What it was once before, he couldn’t really tell. A generic factory building, but with some apartment blocks as well. So it’s a factory where the workers also lived in the same building…

He opened the rusted metal door that was lit from a streetlight close by, a difficult task even with his enhanced strength. The door made a grating noise when he opened the door, a scrape of metal against concrete. After opening the door about halfway, he looked inside. The light from the streetlight illuminated the interior of the building, partially revealing assembly line belts with holes in them, empty rusted metal bins with dull green paint half-chipped off. There were large, boxy machines that had dials and wheels and all sorts of other attachments. The entire place had this sort of stale metallic smell. He was on his guard immediately, ears perked up to hear the slightest sound. 

All of the sudden, there was a whirring noise in the distance, what sounded like a generator, and then a faint popping noise, as a string of lightbulbs laying on the floor turned on, illuminating a good portion of the factory in a muted yellowish glow, casting shadows over the large machines in the factory. He followed the line of lightbulbs until he got to a second metal door, similarly rusted although open enough that he could pass through easily. When he got inside, he was in a cramped hallway with a low ceiling, and doors that were pretty close to each other. Ah, so this was where the living quarters of the factory must be. The paint was peeling and there was dust in the corners, the grayish blue carpet was threadbare and worn down. Maybe it was once a more vibrant blue.

The line of lightbulbs continued on up a rickety set of wooden stairs that creaked loudly with every step he took. But he continued on up, heart pounding in his chest. The second floor landing was just as worn-down as the first floor, although there was a hole or two in the floor that he could see from the even more faded, worn, and threadbare carpet, which was now a red color, although it was closer to grey then red. There was a set of stairs that went to the third floor, wooden steps that had bits and pieces broken off ascending up into an inky black darkness. But the lightbulbs didn’t lead in that direction, instead they stopped at the landing on the second floor, but there was a cord that led into a room. So he swallowed the spit that had gathered in his throat, took a few slow breaths that did nothing to calm down the manic beating of his heart. The floor announced his presence by creaking with every step he took.

He grabbed the handle of the door with a gloved hand, and turned it. The wooden door was unlocked, and despite how nervous he felt, he opened the door.

The whirring of the generator was not coming from this room, it was actually quieter in here. Maybe it was the factory’s generator? But there was a low light in this room, illuminating it. It was two rooms, a main room and what was probably a bathroom. The door was closed so he couldn’t tell. There was a kitchen area, or what was once a kitchen, but the cabinets were open and the doors torn off of it, all the appliances obviously stolen, the tiled floor warped, stained and grimy, covered in something that didn’t smell right. Beyond that was a carpeted floor, where there was a table and two chairs, both of which were foldable. Sitting there were two people who were playing some sort of card game. They were both dressed in a variety of scarves and other torn pieces of fabric in colors of red and white. One of them had green scales and greyish pink hair, the second looked like they had no nose.

They looked up and noticed him. “Ah, Seishin, I’m Stain.” The guy with no nose, Stain, said. “So, what’s your deal?”

He swallowed something in his throat. This was the moment of truth, as it were.

“I’m quirkless.” He said, the now-lie easily slipping from his lips, as it had been true for slightly over a decade of his life. “That should be reason enough. I’ve experienced all sorts of bullying, injustice, and stuff like that. I have _some_ advantages over what a normal quirkless person might experience, but I can guess what would happen for these people. And heroes don’t give a single damn about the quirkless.”

He watched carefully for the reactions of Stain and the other guy, who hasn’t given himself a name yet. “He’s right, Stain.” The guy spoke up. “I knew one of my classmates committed suicide because he was quirkless and didn’t have a support structure, so I know what your talking about.”

So at least he got the approval of this other guy, but what he needed was the approval of Stain, who was currently looking like they were deep in thought. After about a minute or so, where his heart was pounding, where he was waiting for Stain to think about something. Eventually he stirred.

“Your right. I never thought about how quirkless people lived in this society. I don’t know if you’re looking for some sort of official paper for joining or whatever, but we don’t have any of that. This place is our home base, so you can pop by whenever. I don’t care much. The only thing that is going to be of importance is the fact that we’re going to have a meeting with an organization calling itself the League of Villains sometime in the future.”

“Alright, can I go now?”

“Yeah sure, this is Spinner by the way.” Stain said, pointing at the lizard guy. 

He left at that point, navigating a roundabout way back to the train station, waiting until there was a stopped train. He recognized this one, and it would indeed bring him to Musutafu. So he grabbed onto the back and finished the train ride.

While he was hanging onto the train, he thought about the organization Stain had mentioned. They called it the League of Villains. That didn’t sound like the sort of organization that Stain would work with, but then again maybe it was that some people took over an organization and kept the name so they could keep the old organization’s connections, it wasn’t his place to judge, he had enough to worry about.

When he got home, there was a letter from UA in the mail slot. His nervousness immediately spiked up. The letter was plain, although it was much thicker than he was expecting. It felt like there was something much heavier than paper in there. What could it be? He opened the letter, and it revealed a metal disc. He grabbed the gunmetal grey disc and looked around for a button. He eventually found it, a red plastic-looking button on the side. He pressed it, and it revealed a hologram. Why didn't UA just send a letter? Were they really that extravagant?

All Might was there, dressed in a yellow striped suit that he could only describe as horrendous. Where did he go to get a suit that looked so ugly?

**“Congratulations, young Midoriya! Your results on the recommendation exam were top-notch! A near perfect score on the written exam, combined with third place in the practical exam, and an excellent performance on the interview, you passed the entrance exam! This is your hero academia!”**

He couldn’t help but tear up at the announcement. He couldn’t help it. After everything that happened in his life, he still had the chance of becoming a hero. But of course this would make his schedule even more packed and complicated. Out of the now three things he was doing, he would have to cut back on being Seishin. He couldn’t stop researching fake heroes and wanted criminals as Kira, because T would most certainly use this as evidence. And he wanted to give T as little evidence as possible.

And he couldn’t put less work into being a hero, as he was supposed to be the successor to All Might, and if suspicion was ever cast on him, he wanted to appear to be too busy with hero work to ever be Kira.

Of course the main reason he met Stain was that he could hopefully work with Stain without revealing the fact that he is Kira.

He wiped the tears from his eyes, and all of a sudden he felt a wave of tiredness. He looked at his alarm and it said it was 2:46 am. That was pretty late. So he clambered into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Chizome looked at the message that he had received.

Shigaraki had contacted him. Apparently he was supposed to go somewhere he could not be seen, and then Kurogiri would open a portal to lead him to a specific location. Why this couldn’t be held somewhere that’s not a place where it might take him months to get back to Japan, he’s not sure. Maybe Shigaraki just wanted to feel safe. That’s fine. He’ll go along with what Shigaraki wants. If he’s screwed over maybe there’s a chance that he’ll run into someone that supports him.

It was already almost three am, his meeting with Seishin had thankfully lasted shorter than he was expecting. It was almost concerning, though. Seishin seemed pretty young, and Dabi agreed with him. A teenager, like a young one. Quirkless. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t want to _refuse_ the teenager’s request, because he didn’t know what Seishin was going through.

He pushed those thoughts out of his head. His message was spreading to everyone, including the young people. That was a good thing, objectively. He saw there was one of Kurogiri’s Warp Gate in an alleyway, black against the darkened bricks of the wall, almost unnoticeable. The alleyway had a dumpster with trash bags piled up that overflowed, and there were other trash bags scattered around. Even with all the trash bags around the area, there was still scattered trash, dirt, and other stuff like that. Why were people like that? He went through the Warp Gate, which still had that cool, cold feeling to the portal.

He emerged from the portal into what he could only describe as a ruined city. Tall buildings were all around him, broken and destroyed. Rubble was on the streets, and it was almost absolutely silent, save for the wind that caused whistling noises when it was rushing in between the buildings. It was cold. Not uncomfortably cold, but still cold regardless. After about a minute or so of walking, his boots sometimes chunching glass, other times maneuvering around large, twisted sections of concrete and steel, still other times they made a muted sound on concrete and asphalt, he heard a sound in the distance, the sound of rubble settling, over the wind. He went closer, and saw that Shigaraki was there, not wearing any of the hands he usually has, using his quirk on sections of rubble, decaying them into dust that was picked up and caught by the wind when the wind picked up.

“Why did you want to meet here?” He asked. “This doesn’t seem necessary.”

Shigaraki looked up. “What do you think of this place, Stain? This was once Shenzheng, China where three million people lived. That is, until Apocalypse struck the city.”

He was familiar with the Apocalypse Incident. A man had a viral quirk that allowed him to spread a disease that did two things. It massively powered up people’s quirks, but also removed their control, essentially a trigger disease. He never left China, but the Apocalypse incident meant that well over a hundred million people died, and several cities were cleared out.

“I just think that this is a good place to discuss the downfall of this hero-based society. Not a single soul other than the two of us and Kurogiri in a twenty-mile radius. We’re going to make a move soon, I hope you're ready to take on a fake hero that’s high-ranked, because it’s time for us to announce ourselves to the world.”

A portal opened nearby him, Kurogiri’s work.

“You can leave if you want, unless you have anything to add?”

He shook his head. A high-ranking hero, huh? There were some rumors, papers that Kira revealed, and other things that he’s gathered, leads he could pursue.

“I’ll look into a high-ranking hero that’s a fake.” He finished as he went back through the warp gate, into the alleyway he had left in the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point I think it's obvious that I like abandoned and ruined buildings lol.


	14. Expression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're finally at UA! It took me long enough it seems.

This was one of the largest meetings that they had ever hosted. Shigaraki had told them to gather lowlifes and petty criminals for something. What it was, they had no idea. But it was something they needed numbers for.

But this meeting was for the so-called “Elites”. Them, their companion, (They checked, and she had indeed passed the entrance exam, so they were both really going to UA.), Shigaraki, Kurogiri, Breakin, and Sensei attending remotely.

There was also Stain’s group, which was more numerous than it was from last time. There was himself, Dabi, Toga, Spinner, and Seishin, who apparently was quirkless.

“This meeting was called for a reason, All for One.” Stain said, breaking the tense silence. “So what’s this meeting for?”

 _“Of course, Stain, you of all people would want to start without delay.”_ All for One said from the screen. _“Very well._

_“There’s a lot of instability in the world right now. Thanks to you, Stain, as well as Kira, wherever he happens to be. Other villains have been taking advantage of this, so we’re about to move soon. We have access to UA, and we can use this to make a major move against hero society. We just need information.”_

“And how do you propose getting this information?” Seishin asked. “Getting into UA is difficult, as the principal is well known for having an extensive security system. I know Kurogiri can teleport, but there’s only so much you can do.”

_“Don’t worry about that Seishin, I have my ways.”_

Seishin stepped back. “Ok then. I don’t know much about you, but you seem to know what you are talking about.”

_“Anyway, I just called you all here to be ready. If there’s anything you need to add, bring it up now.”_

They didn’t have anything to add, and it didn’t seem like anyone else had anything to add either, so Kurogiri opened up portals for people to exit where they needed to go. That’s the advantage of having someone with a teleportation quirk on your team is that you can get groups of people together easily.

A portal opened in front of them. This wasn’t the portal that led home, but rather this was training. If their memory served them right, today was sparring without his quirk. This was something they had been doing for quite some time at this point, because Eraserhead, someone who could prevent him from using their quirk, was currently employed at UA. They walked through the portal without hesitation.

They emerged into the training room that their parents and Sensei had created. Standing there was the trainer that did their quirkless combat training. He was large, easily clearing six feet in height, and was quite broad. So yeah, they were clearly outmatched. And there was no way they could use their quirk, because he, Takari, had a quirk that nullified quirks in a twenty-two point two foot radius. Apparently Sensei had done extensive study and documentation on this guy’s quirk, as well as all sorts of others.

“Welcome, Crafter. This is probably the last time I’m going to see you for quite some time.”

“Yeah. It’s going to be a shame, having to hold back so much. Let’s make this match a good one shall we?” They asked, projecting confidence despite the size difference between the two people in the room.

“Of course, Crafter.”

And with that, Takari lurched forward. For such a big guy, he was pretty fast. But they were faster, dodging the opening strike and responding with a quick strike of their own. They missed, the large man twisting out of the way. The two of them continued this dance of sorts, dodging, evading, twisting and turning. Eventually Takari made a mistake, stepped too far forward. They immediately exploited this weakness, using it to knock the big guy over and pin him down with all of their weight. They then made a slitting gesture over the big man’s throat as he struggled to get up.

“If I had a knife you’d be dead.” They said.

“You finally managed to win a fight. Good job.” Takari replied. They then climbed off, letting Takari get up. 

They had to give it to Takari. They had spent two years under his tutelage. At first their “training” consisted of little more than Takari beating them up for about a half an hour, but in time, they learned how to evade, how to strike back.

“Another round?” They asked.

“Of course, did you expect anything else, Crafter?”

* * *

T looked at his computer screen.

It showed written “confessions”, as it were, of the crimes of two heroes, T’ai Lung and Astrovosk. Astrovosk was moving money around, buying political influence and selling protection. T’ai Lung apparently was receiving funds from Silk Road, one of the largest international villain organizations left. Maybe after he catches Kira he should look into taking down Silk Road. The amount of contraband that they moved around the world could be measured in the kilotons. But there still was the fact that he needed something more about Kira. They had already established that Kira was young, in fact he was certain of this. But what else could he glean? This type of research took time, digging into files that while they were public, sometimes, it was a needle in a haystack. He took another sip from his cup of tea, and looked through previous autopsy reports.

A new one popped up on his screen. It was a report from Detective Ichiwara Nageyama, someone he had worked with before. His quirk, Quirk Sense, allowed him to figure out what sort of quirk was used on a person, for example if someone was burned with a fire quirk, he could tell if the fire was generated directly, or if they ignited a highly flammable gas, or they manipulated existing flames, or if they heated it enough that it burst into flames. He had sent the detective to investigate Balance, a hero that was killed by Kira about two weeks ago. He navigated down to the section of the report that said what quirk was used.

**Quirk Used: None**

It was almost time for their meeting, and he would certainly share this information. He knew Detective Ichiwara. His quirk was one hundred percent infallible, having tested it hundreds of times, and he was responsible for the arrest of dozens of criminals. But if this wasn’t a quirk, what was it? This certainly was the work of a single person, that could kill at significant range, as his broadcast had proven.

He turned on his microphone, as the heroes took care of the minutiae of this newest meeting. As Kamui Woods, the main hero behind this investigation, asked for any news, that’s when he spoke up.

“I have something I would like to share. Please read this autopsy report and tell me what you think of it. I can personally vouch for the detective that made the analysis, although for most of you that may not be necessary.” He pressed the share button, which distributed the report to everyone. “Please, read it in its entirety before commenting.”

He heard the occasional sound of surprise, especially when he estimated that most people in the room reached the section where it said that this latest murder was done without any sort of quirk.

_“Are you sure this is possible? Could this be a one-in-a-million chance that his quirk failed?”_

“That’s a possibility I’ve already considered. I’m going to have him examine five more heroes and villains Kira has killed. The reports will come in within the week. But for now, what we need to consider is the possibility that this was done without a quirk.”

There were all sorts of shocked noises.

 _“What do you mean by that T? How could someone do this without a quirk, from what we’ve seen of Kira’s powers, it seems far too much to do without a quirk.”_ A voice that he recognized as Midoriya Inko asked.

“An astute observation Mrs. Midoriya. And I don’t exactly know how to respond. I’ll have to think about this. If this is not a quirk then we may have to grasp at some straws here.”

He had heard rumors about strange happenings, a group of people that had very similar, yet complex quirks that still worked even under quirk suppressant handcuffs about a hundred years ago. They were taken out by All for One for trying to fight him, though.

There were rumors, whispers and other things that hinted to the existence of the supernatural. They had gotten bolder, of course, because they could be hidden by them just saying “oh it’s just my quirk/ a part of my quirk.”

So was it a supernatural power? Some sort of ESP like power? This would make it much harder to track down Kira. This may be the hardest case he has worked on, and that includes All for One’s organization.

He opened up the files again, looking through them. Maybe there was some new pattern he hasn’t seen before.

* * *

Midoriya Izuku looked up at the gates of UA. It was still hard to believe that he was here, the events of the past year or so running through his head. The Death Note is one of the most powerful things in this world, more powerful than any quirk, even All Might’s quirk, which he coincidentally also had.

This was apparently an introduction day or something, and then they would move into the newly installed dorms that were supposedly built to protect students from increasingly powerful villains. But he had access to the databases of the Kira investigation, and he knew the truth. T suspected that Kira was going to attend or currently attending a hero school, so the dorms were constructed. Not just at UA, but pretty much every major hero school also built them, because maybe T thought that he had travelled, which was reasonable.

On the subject of the Death Note, He still had a piece of it with him, even here, walking into UA. It made him feel safer for some reason. Sure he had to have something to write with, but he’s attending a school, so why wouldn’t he happen to have a pencil?

Even though this was his second time entering the school, this time as a student, the school still had its allure. Of course, there were about three or four apples in his backpack for Ryuk. But he would only give them to the Shinigami if he could find gaps in the security cameras that weren’t in the toilets.

In the meantime, he had something else to do. His classes. How difficult would they be, he had no clue. But if he could keep the top spot in the class like he did before, then he had the perfect alibi.

He had arrived half an hour early, just because that’s when the train got here. The next train would mean that he would only have a few minutes. Navigating the hallways to the classroom he had been assigned, class 1-A, was pretty easy. Eventually he got to the door, which was much bigger than he was expecting. ‘Well, this is obviously for people with a larger size than normal.’ Despite how big the door was, it was as easy to open as a normal door, if not easier. It glided open silently, revealing the classroom within. There were people there, which was surprising. He did not expect there to be anyone here yet. A boy with blond hair was sleeping apparently, his head resting on his desk. Well, it is still about twenty-five minutes until class starts. Also Todoroki was there, he recognized him from the recommendation exam. Nobody else was there yet, which made sense.

From what he experienced from the recommendation exam, Todoroki seemed cold. But hey, maybe it was how he handled stress, it wasn’t his place to judge.

“Hey Todoroki, what’re you doing here so early?”

Todoroki looked up in response, but did not say anything. But this gave Izuku a better chance to look at his appearance. Bicolored hair, split down the middle, heterochromia. Huh. And then he saw the scar. It was a large one, on the left side of his face, a red blotch that stretched from his eye up into his hairline. How did this happen? He was no stranger to scars, he had them all over his body, little pockmarks from when Bakugo was too physical, cuts from the trash at Dagobah beach, and some scarring on his hands and arms from when he broke his bones using One for All. It didn’t look like a birthmark, the skin was angry and stretched tight.

So what happened to him to get this scar?

“Alright, not a fan of talking. That’s cool.” He sat back down in his seat, and then looked back. It looked like Todoroki was just staring off into the distance. Well, he has some work to do. He pulled out one of his Hero Analysis notebooks, and began to write down what he could tell from the debut video. He had earbuds in, so he could listen to the audio without disturbing whoever was sleeping or Todoroki.

People started to trickle in, he recognized Yaoyorozu from the recommendation exam, but aside from that he didn’t recognize anyone else. But he made sure to try to introduce himself, making sure to be friendly. He kept track of the names in his head. Asui (who wanted everyone to call her Tsu, so that’s what he would call her), was pretty blunt, but also kind. He really wanted to see how her frog mutation quirk worked. There wasn’t much in the way of appearance changes that he could see, just a slightly altered face, and she makes a ribbit noise sometimes. Kirishima, who had spiked up bright red hair and when he opened his mouth, Izuku saw triangular teeth. And he was inspired to become a hero by Crimson Riot. One by one he introduced himself to everyone. When it was about ten minutes to go he went over and woke up the sleeping person, so they had some time to wake up and be alert before class started. So he went up to them and gently shook their shoulder. He barely touched them before they jolted awake. He barely managed to jump away to avoid a flailing hand. Izuku got a better look at the boy now, his blond hair had a black streak through it like a bolt of lightning. He was also breathing heavily. Almost everyone else was in conversation.

“Are you OK? Class was about to start so I thought you might want some time to wake up before class starts.”

“Thanks. I’m fine, just stayed up too late playing mario kart. Thanks again.”

“Anyway, I’m Midoriya Izuku, and you are?”

“Kaminari Denki.”

He walked back to his seat and sat down, making sure to take a second glance at Kaminari, just to double check.

The door then slammed open, revealing a certain ash blond by the name of Bakugo Katsuki. Izuku had been hoping that Bakugo might have been in 1-B, the other heroics class, but guess he wasn’t as lucky as he would’ve liked. 

And it appeared that Bakugo had also noticed him.

“Deku, what the hell are you doing here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course I'm doing this, why wouldn't I?


	15. Youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day at UA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter, stuff came up over the weekend. You'll still get your Wednesday update though :)

Bakugo Katsuki walked up to UA. This was his dream being realized. He had gotten the top ranking in the practical exam, and got second place in the written exam. Stupid Deku was probably going to some no-name public high school, and he’d be done with that portion of his life. He _hated_ having to restrain himself for years, all because his mom had connections. This was the start of his hero journey, where he would become the greatest hero, surpassing All Might. And he would take down all of the greatest villains, like Stain and Kira.

Fucking Kira! Kira was a massive coward, killing from behind a screen. He had seen the “world-wide” report like almost everyone did. T proved that Kira was in the area, which meant he could hunt that coward down and bring them to justice. 

He slammed open the door, he still had about five or ten minutes left to go until the first bell. He looked around at everyone in the room. Stupid extras with crazy hair colors. Red hair, red and white hair, pink hair, green hair, bird head.

He looked again. There he was, sitting at his desk like he didn’t have a care in the world. Deku was sitting there. Hah? He was _sure_ that Deku wasn’t there at the general entrance exam, so what the fuck?

“Deku, what the hell are you doing here?”  
He hadn’t seen the nerd in _months_. What the fuck is happening, why is Deku here?

“I passed the entrance exam, what else would I have done, _Bakugo_?”

The edges of his eyes danced with red. The fuck does Deku think he is? He thinks he’s hot shit, huh? Winter break makes him think he can have a spine, huh? Well fuck that, that’s not going to happen. His seat was just in front of the damn nerd’s, so he strode up to Deku and raised his palms.

The lack of explosions was surprising. The fuck’s wrong with his quirk, and why’s everyone so damn silent? He turned around to see that there was someone who looked like they were homeless. They were dressed in baggy black clothes, with some weird crazy scarf. They had greasy-looking black hair that went down to their shoulders.

“Using your quirk in the classroom is prohibited unless I approve it. Anyways, good on the rest of you for stopping your conversation. Time is precious, let’s not waste it shall we?”

* * *

Midoriya Izuku looked at who had just walked in. That costume, combined with deactivating Bakugo’s quirk, it was the pro hero Eraserhead obviously. That made him a bit more nervous. Eraserhead was a very smart hero, he would have to avoid making himself look like he supported Kira in any way. He was just a fan of All Might, who wanted to be a hero like All Might, who happened to recieve a recommendation from Kamui Woods, the current number fourteen hero, but rapidly climbing in the ranks. A bright-eyed, young hero-in-training, who wanted to do their best to be a hero.

Eraserhead pulled out some gym clothes from… somewhere. “Alright, put on these gym clothes and head out to the training ground. Don’t get lost.”

And with that, Eraserhead just slunked off, probably going to the training ground. He waited for a couple of seconds, just to avoid the crowds. Ah, so that’s why they asked for his clothing size. He grabbed a set of gym clothes that were his size and made his way down to the locker room. For such a big school, it was easy to move around. He got to the locker room and started changing. He made sure to stay in one of the corners close to the door and change quickly, not wanting to engage much with anyone.

In no time at all he was on the training field with the rest of his class. Bakugo, of course, was staring him down. But that’s not his problem, he has to worry about getting through class, because from what he’s seen, Eraserhead has a reputation for expelling students.

* * *

‘T, you think that one of my students could be Kira?’ Aizawa Shota said in his mind as he looked out over his students. It’s possible. T presented quite a bit of evidence to explain why Kira could be a student. It’s the real reason why they built the dorms, after all, to observe the students to see if one of them could possibly be Kira.

He observed how his students arrived at the training ground. Who they were with, how big was the group they arrived with, who they were talking to, everything. He had been added as an adjunct on the Kira investigation, and out of every case that he worked on, this was the hardest by far. The severe lack of evidence of the killings…

Eventually everyone arrived. Alright, this is where he can make some observations about Kira. He was briefed on each of his student’s quirks, and had seen how they worked, but this test should hopefully show how they use their quirks.

“Alright, we’re going to have a quirk assessment test.” And the moment he finished that, a bunch of people raised their hands. Oh boy, questions already. He pointed at Uraraka (he had memorized the names of every one of his students). “Uraraka, you have a question?”

“What about orientation, or an icebreaker?” She asked. Ah, right, they were still attached to the idea of a normal high school. That was a dangerous idea to have, they needed to take this seriously.

“UA is known for allowing teachers greater control over their classrooms. That means that we don’t have to do orientation or any of that. I already told you that time was precious. Becoming a hero is a dangerous and difficult task, and we can’t waste time with orientation. Now, the quirk assessment test is a series of eight tasks that will show off how skilled you are with your quirks.”

“Wowee, we get to use our quirks as much as we want, this’ll be so fun!” He heard from somewhere behind him. Fun? What? Out of every word that could be applied to his class, he never wanted his class to be called “fun.”

“Alright, you want it to be fun? Fine. If you get last place in the test you are going to be expelled.”

As expected, there was an outcry, capped by someone saying that this wasn’t fair. That was expected, of course, he got it every year. But he _hated_ the word “fair”. The world is a horrific, terrible, place, and “fair” was reserved only for toddlers sharing goldfish at snacktime.

He had been told that activating his quirk made him look intimidating, so that’s exactly what he did, silencing his hell class. “Fair? You think life is fair? Villain attacks, natural disasters, and this entire Kira matter show how unfair this world really is.”

He had name-dropped Kira just to see how his class reacted to the name. As he expected, there were a variety of reactions, everything from anger to fear to something a bit more complicated. He couldn’t fault people for liking the fact that Kira existed, and was taking care of some wanted criminals. But Kira was going about this all the wrong way. But now it was time to start the assessment test. “Bakugo, you got the highest amount of points in the entrance exam. How far could you throw a ball in middle school?”

“Sixty-seven meters.” Was the response from Bakugou, who said it pretty much immediately. Unusual, but whatever.

He tossed a ball to Bakugo. It was damn near indestructible, and was connected to his smartphone. “Throw this, but now use your quirk.”

Bakugo grabbed the ball and hurled it into the sky with an explosion, shouting “Die!” as the ball soared into the air. He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. That was unusual.

About twenty seconds or so his phone beeped with a distance loaded on it. He looked at it. 704.5 meters. Perfect.

He showed it off to the class. “This is something that you should expect from class, performing at the best of your best. Now let’s get started with the 50 meter sprint.”

* * *

Of _course_ he was matched up with Bakugo for the sprint. Why not? Does the universe hate him or something? Of course Ryuk decided that this was hilarious, that the universe hated him like this. Ryuk apparently found a few blind spots, some of them which he could maybe take advantage of sometime in the future…

Ever since Ryuk had arrived back, he had seen Tokoyami look around, as if something was disturbing him. That’s strange, Ryuk had said that humans that hadn’t touched the Death Note couldn’t see or hear him, but Ryuk’s knowledge doesn’t apply to the quirk-filled world of today. He would have to ask Tokoyami about that.

But that’s not what he has to worry about now. He has one thing to take care of. He has a thing to do. His heart was pounding in his throat as he walked up to the starting line and crouched down into a four-point start.

There was a bot that would start them, and then a bot that would record their time. 

“Ready.”

He crouched down, breathing, letting the energy of One for All flow through him at 7%. Not exactly what he really wanted, but it was good enough.

“Set.” 

Emerald lightning danced around his form as he prepared.

“Go.”

The moment the bot said “go” he exploded forward. All Might had explained to him that the strength from One for All was an enhancement, so of course he studied proper forms. He pounded forward, passing the finish line in the span of seconds. After he passed the finish line, he slowed himself down, slowly releasing One for All as he slowed down. He ended up being another fifty meters from the finish line, needing all of that space just to slow down. He didn’t even hear the time from the bot. He turned around to see that Bakugo was looking directly at him. Oh yeah, he never told Bakugo about his quirk. Why did he have to? It’s none of his business to tell Bakugo about his damn quirk.

“What the fuck, Deku?” Bakugo yelled, but a split-second later he was wrapped in Eraserhead’s capture cloth. After ten or so seconds, the capture scarf retracted. That had been something he had been wondering for quite some time. How does it move?

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but you're drying out my eyes. Just keep doing the assessment test.”

Thankfully, he wasn’t near Bakugo for the rest of the exercises, which included things like side steps (Mineta scored high here, using clusters of balls from his head to bounce off of), grip strength test (Shoji, with his six arms, pretty much crushed the device), long-distance run (Iida scored high here, but Yaoyorozu made some sort of powered bicycle to help her), ball toss (Uraraka got infinity here, her quirk negated gravity, so it made sense that the ball would continue forever.) So there were quite a few people who got exceptional scores. He didn’t get a breakout score, but he did get exceptional scores in most of the categories.

“Alright.” Eraserhead said as the last person finished. “Now it’s time to compile the scores, to see where you guys are standing.”

  * **Yaoyorozu Momo**


  * Midoriya Izuku


  * Todoroki Shoto


  * Bakugo Katsuki


  * Iida Tenya


  * Tokoyami Fumikage


  * Sero Hanta


  * Asui Tsuyu


  * Shoji Mezo


  * Ashido Mina


  * Uraraka Ochako


  * Ojiro Mashirao


  * Sato Rikido


  * Kirishima Eijiro


  * Jiro Kyoka


  * Aoyama Yuga


  * Koji Koda


  * Kaminari Denki


  * Minoru Mineta


  * Hagakure Toru



He looked over and saw that Hagakure was crying. Ok, he was suspecting that this was a lie from Eraserhead, but that had better be the case, otherwise he’s about to throw hands.

“As for expelling the person that scored last….

“That was just a logical ruse, so that you can do your best.” Eraserhead said. Oh thank the gods that was the case. “Anyways, that’s all for today. If you really want to, there’s copies of the syllabus in the classroom. Classes start on monday, now go move into the dorms you heathens.”

And with that, Eraserhead slunked off.

What a strange fellow…

* * *

He had made sure to carefully observe his class as they went through the assessment exam. Apparently T wanted to meet him face-to-face later today, as he was going to apparently work closer with the investigation for some reason. But he was observing for actions that would fit a developing character profile that T had been developing for Kira. So far, none of his students fit the character profile. But that’s because this is a public area, with a teacher present. There were cameras in the dorm’s common room and hallways, as well as pretty much everywhere except the showers and the individual rooms. 

As he rounded a corner, he saw All Might. Ah. for some reason All Might had been watching the training grounds for quite some time. He knew that All Might had been training his protege at UA, so maybe that was it?

“Watching your protege’s progress I assume, All Might?”

Watching All Might jump into the air was something he would never say that he was amused by, but it was amusing.

**“H-how do you know about him, Aizawa?”**

So this protege was male, huh? Interesting.

“Well he did do pretty well in the assessment test, but you’re a teacher as well. Just ask me for the recording and the results instead of creeping around.”

He was making a gamble here with that statement about this protege, but if they were under the tutelage of All Might for (at least) three months, then it was a very good guess that whoever he was, that he had done well.

 **“They did do well, and I’ll ask you for that later.”** And then the number one hero just up and left hastily. That’s amusing.

A shame, he had been intending to find out the exact identity of All Might’s mysterious protege in one conversation.

Anyway, he had an appointment with T to meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Lies
> 
> Also a question for the comment section, would you guys like an audio version of this fic?


	16. Lies

He knew why T established the dorms. It made sense, after all. He saw that T suspected Kira of being a student at UA. There would most certainly be security cameras in the public spaces, so he would still have to police what he says. Going to UA has made things quite a bit more complicated. UA’s internet would most likely be monitored, but that’s why he had security in place. Sure it would be far simpler for him to just go to a local high school, but why would he ever do that? He had wanted to be a hero all his life, and to give that up just for an easier time? That would _never_ be something that he would even dream of doing. 

“Deku!” An angry yell came from behind him. Of course it was Bakugo. 

“What do you want, Bakugo?” He was tired of Bakugo’s whole deal at this point. He has spent almost a year at this point barely interacting with him. Why he couldn’t just give up and start over was behind him. He picked up his walking speed, forcing Bakugo to do the same.

“The fuck’s going on with you Deku? You’ve been hiding a quirk from me this whole time, hah?”

Oh, of course. Damn it. He needed to make an excuse for One for All. There was no way in hell he was going to reveal the secret of All Might’s quirk.

“When I first used it three months ago, I broke my arm because of how powerful my quirk is. The doctors had a theory that my quirk triggered so late as a protective mechanism to avoid what would most likely have been lethal injury if my quirk triggered when I was younger.” The lie passed easily from his lips. It sounded believable, of course. He had crafted it that way. “You seem more determined to be a hero lately. Did something change?”

“I’m gonna find Kira and pummel their fucking face into the ground! I’ll be the hero that catches him.”

Ah. Bakugo wanted to catch Kira. Well, Bakugo, Kira is much closer than you think. And don’t think you’re going to catch me.

“We can make it a game Bakugo! Let’s see who will catch Kira first! Anyway, we need to get our stuff from home to move into the dorms.”

“Damn right, Deku.” With that, he stormed off.

“Well, Izuku, looks like T isn’t the only one gunning after you. You’re piling on the enemies here.” Ryuk commented.

“If Bakugo thinks he can catch Kira, I’d have to give him good luck. I’m a difficult fish to catch, Ryuk. Bakugo is using a fishing rod, while T is using a net. But the lake is still pretty big, and I have a chance to continue slipping through the traps placed. Anyway, it’s time to move into the dorms.”

This was going to be one of the most important parts when it comes to him being Kira. There was a _possibility_ of their being bugs in his room, so he would most certainly bring some of his All Might posters, just so that he can put them up and look for bugs and microphones in his room. 

“Hey mom!” He said as he entered their apartment. He had already packed up most of his things, he just needed to select some posters for his new room.

“Hey Izuku, how was your first day at UA?” His mom called from her office.

“It was great, our teacher made us do a quirk test where he threatened expulsion.”

“Ah, so you got Aizawa.”

Aizawa? Is that Eraserhead’s real name? It’s not _that_ rare, but at least it’s something. “Yeah. I placed second though, so there’s still room for me to improve.”

“Well you only had your quirk for three months, everyone else has been able to use it for eleven years. You can only improve from here on out.”

“Thanks mom.”

He looked over his posters. A few of the All Might posters as well as some figurines and the like. He had already packed up his computer, laptop, the Death Note, his clothes, and other essentials in around three boxes. From what he heard, UA was providing a bed and mattress, as well as a desk and shelving units, but anything else were things that he had to bring himself. He brought some tools as well, to hopefully make a hidden compartment to hide his Death Note. When he finished packing, he had three boxes, which he loaded up into his mom’s car and got in the front passenger seat.

“Hey mom?” He asked. “Why did UA build the dorms. They said it was a policy change, but there’s a reason that the dorms were built, am I right?”

His mom sighed, paused for a bit, sighed again, and then responded. “I can’t say much to you Izuku, but apparently it’s because of increased villain activity.”

“Oh, ok. Thanks for that anyways!” Of course he knew the exact reason why, but he could never tell his mom that. “Anyway, is there anything you can tell you about what you're working on? I know it’s classified, but I’m curious about what you’re doing.”

“I’m sorry Izuku, I can’t say anything.”

“I understand, mom.” He'd been hoping to get some bit of information out of his mom, stuff not in the reports, but it's fine if he doesn't.

* * *

**Relevant Excerpts from Detective Ichiwara Nageyama, compiled 7/3/2247**

**Marcus Armani Conseri- Wanted Criminal, leader of the Tuscany Mafia**

**TOD: 13/2/2247 2:28 - 17/2/2247 16:32 GMT+9 (Tokyo time, JCT)**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

**Mansuri Raimozon- in jail for life, former third in command of Al-bayer Adzi**

**TOD: 15/2/2247 16:37 JCT**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

**Xi Meifung, Pro Hero Red Lotus- excess property damage and 73 counts of accidental death**

**TOD: 16/2/2247 11:29 JCT**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

**Azamar Sakkin, wanted criminal, serial killer**

**TOD: 17/2/2247 23:43 JCT**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

**Kiyami Dankuro, leader of the Aeolian Avenger gang**

**TOD: 16/2/2247 23:33 - 19/2/2247 1:29 JCT**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

**Kiyami Katsumi, second in command of the Aeolian Avenger gang**

**TOD: 16/2/2247 23:37 - 19/2/2247 4:37 JCT**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

**Kiyami Natsuki, third in command of the Aeolian Avenger gang**

**TOD: 18/2/2247 12:22 - 18/2/2247 23:10 JCT**

**Cause of Death: Heart Attack**

**Quirk Used: None**

T looked at these results, and more. Of course, it would make sense if _one_ of these people died because of no quirk, it could’ve been a mistake on Detective Ichiwara’s part, or he died of an actual heart attack, or there could be a problem with the corpse. But fifty-six examinations, and every single one of them showed that these people didn’t die as a result of a quirk. This made things significantly more difficult. But that meant that they didn’t have to use the quirk investigation side, and they could shift those resources to other matters. For now he needed to figure out how Kira killed these people. There weren’t any shadowy leaders of a hidden cabal that were killed, at least to his knowledge. Could Kira only kill people who were publicly known? Your standard wanted poster had a mugshot or other picture that identified their face as well as a name…

 _“T, do you have anything to add? We saw the results of Detective Ichiwara’s report. It doesn’t make sense, but maybe something does to you?”_ He heard Kamui Woods ask.

He pressed the transmit button on his microphone. “I have a question to ask. Are the names and faces of the people that Kira murdered available for the public?”

_“I… don’t know. We can check that if you want?”_

“Yes, please do. Anyways, I have someone to contact, so I’ll be back soon.”

It was time for him to test the limits of Kira’s power. So what can you do, Kira? What is the extent of your power. Can you really kill anyone in the world without a quirk with only a name and a face? How did you get these powers Kira?

And, most importantly, who are you, Kira? Do you go to school with the weight of those you killed on your shoulders, attend classes haunted by demons, submit assignments while soaked in blood?

Or are you more like Stain, where you revel in your murders? Laughing atop a mountain made from the heaps of corpses that you slaughtered?

Well, it’s only a matter of time until I find you. I won’t execute you straight away. I really want to know how you kill…

But it’s time to test the waters now.

* * *

He was setting up the posters in his room while looking for bugs, small cameras and microphones. He didn’t find any, which made sense. But he had taken out all of his stuff, and even hid his Death Note in a hidden compartment he built in his desk. It was a rush job, sure, but it was worth it. He would be worried about the noise he was making, but there were much louder noises coming from Todoroki’s room. What is he doing up there, tearing up his floor? 

He took a step back and looked at his room. Bookshelf filled with books, both normal and educational, a pretty decent computer on the desk, a few All Might figurines and posters tastefully placed around the room. It looked pretty standard, nothing exceptional. Of course he had his laptop, as well as a couple of burner phones, hidden in the room. Of course, it’s not as well hidden as the Death Note, but they aren’t as important to keep hidden as the Death Note. Marginally.

As he was finishing up, his stomach gurgled. He checked the watch his mom had gotten him. It read that it was 15:37. Ah he hadn’t eaten lunch. The paper that he had gotten from UA said that the kitchen was stocked. Maybe there was a snack or something like that he could nab before he made himself something for dinner. His room could be locked, thankfully, so he made sure to lock it. Wouldn’t help much if someone was determined to get into his room, but whatever.

Nobody was in the kitchen, so he snuck in and grabbed some sort of rice cracker from the cabinet, and walked into the central room, where there was a conversation going on about why they wanted to be a hero. Out of the corner of the eye, he saw a security camera at the edge. They were being monitored.

“Hey Midoriya, why did you come to UA to be a hero?” Ashido asked from the couch she was resting on.

He slipped down into another couch, where Iida, Ojiro and Kaminari were already sitting. He also noticed that out of the corner of his eye that Tokoyami was looking at him weird again. What was that about? He would have to ask Tokoyami about why he was looking at him strangely in private sometime in the future.

“Well I want to be a hero just like All Might! Saving people with a smile on his face!”

There were various approving responses from nearly everyone, except from Bakugo, who gave an annoyed “tch.”

The conversation continued on, until Sero dropped a pretty big question. “So what do you guys think about Kira?”

He managed to hide his reaction, but everyone else stared in shock. But Midoriya’s mind was turning. This could be a test from T. He already suspected that Kira was attending UA, so it made sense that T would have asked students at UA (or paid them, most likely) to ask this question to test everyone’s reaction. Sure that would mean paying off thirty-odd teens, but it would be worth it to T.

“Kira is a mass murderer, Sero. I mean, sure he kills villains, but a killer who kills killers is a killer all the same. If I ever caught Kira, I would send him to Tartarus without hesitation.” He responded, cutting through the tension in the air. Now time to see if T properly gave instructions to his plants. “Why did you bring it up, Sero?”

“Well that’s one of the reasons that I went to UA, I want to take down Kira.” Sero replied.

So T _did_ make sure that he educated the people he paid as a response. They said T was a genius, but planning to this extent is quite impressive on his part. T _does_ have the force of an international organization behind him as well.

“Anyway, let’s stop talking about a heavy subject!” Ashido spoke up. “Let’s see everyone’s rooms!”

If his immediate reaction was to Full Cowl himself up to his room to double-check that he didn’t have anything incriminating left in the open, nobody would ever know.

Mostly because at least half the class was doing the same, over Ashido’s yell of “Boys first!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Deciet
> 
> Also: I'm still wondering if making this into a podfic is something I should spend my time on, comment below!


	17. Deceit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lies are the currency of the underground. Spend them sparingly, or you will find yourself with no recourse very quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Announcement:  
> I won't be updating my side fics as often because I'm focusing on making a new Webtoon! Stay tuned for "Ignition"!

Midoriya Izuku gave an additional glance over his room, just to make sure that everything was well hidden. Other than that he gave everything a quick check, making sure that his room was presentable. Nothing was out of the ordinary. 

About fifteen seconds later, there was a pounding knock on his door. Oh great the crowd has already arrived. He knew Ashido was outside, but who else? Most of the class probably. Well he’ll just have to grin and bear it. He unlocked his door and released whoever was on the other side.

“Wow Midoriya, your room looks nice!” Ashido said excitedly. “I mean, it’s pretty boring but whatever!”

Perfect, that’s what he wants to be. Nothing unusual, just a face in the crowd, the best disguise. “Well I mean, what were you expecting?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not really a fan of anything fancy or too crazy.”

He got dragged along to the next room, which was Aoyama’s. Turns out that Aoyama was the exact opposite. He had stared off into strange directions once or twice, but other than that, nothing unusual. His quirk, Naval Laser, allowed him to shoot a laser from his stomach for about a second. His room was something different altogether. A gilded mirror, a suit of armor, a disco ball, and all sorts of bright and sparkly things. A bedroom is supposed to be a place of relaxation. Nothing about this room says relaxation. But well if Aoyama finds it relaxing, so be it.

One by one they went through most everyone’s rooms. He agreed with most of the girls when they all agreed not to go into Mineta’s room. First day there and they pretty much all got weird vibes from the strangely short teen with a row of purple balls for hair. He was more observative than most, and he noticed how during the quirk assessment test, Mineta would try to… get a look. So they all agreed to stay away. Bakugo, of course, had his door locked, and Asui was apparently feeling under the weather. That’s fine, if you don’t want to you don’t have to share your room you don’t have to. Anyway they were also doing a vote on who was the best room. He did a mental assessment of all of the rooms he saw. Kirishima’s “manly” room that also had a ton of Crimson Riot merch, Jiro’s instruments, and yes, the noises that he was hearing from Todoroki’s room were indeed him replacing his floor. Why? Apparently it was more comfortable for him. Every single thing he learned about Todoroki made him more intrigued. However, Sato had set up some sort of mini-kitchen. Sato had a strength-enhancement quirk, sort of like One for All, but it required sugar as a fuel source, so the mini-kitchen made sense. Sato had even prepared a simple cake for him. It was great to be fair. But he did have to give it to Todoroki, for the most dramatic transformation.

Aaaand while Todoroki got four votes, Sato ended up with six. Apparently all of the girls agreed that because Sato made them food then his room was the best. He knew he wasn’t going to win, and honestly he didn’t really care. Staying under the radar was the best chance for him to stay at UA and still be Kira at the same time.

“Alright! Now that we got that sorted, I think we should go around and introduce ourselves, give our names, and something interesting about ourselves!” Ashido called out. “You know, just so that we can get to know each other!”

Well, this would be a good idea. So nineteen people sat down in the common room.

“I feel like we’re missing someone.” Ashido said. “Isn’t there supposed to be twenty students in our class?”

“Yeah, Bakugo isn’t really the type of person to hang out with other’s, don’t worry about it.” He said in response.

“Ok, that makes sense. Anyway my name is Ashido Mina, my favorite color is purple, because it just looks cool, and I just love meeting new people and all sorts of social activities! Alright, you can go next!” She said, pointing at the person next to her, who was a girl with an invisibility quirk, who he already knew was Hagakure.

“Hey guys! My name’s Hagakure Toru. My favorite color is pink, because it’s so nice in appearance and looks very cute! Anyway, I like doing things like makeup and hair, even though I can’t really see some of it!” She said, sitting down and then the next person got up. Izuku knew that he was Kirishima. The bright spiky red hair was unmistakable.

“Hey everyone, My name’s Kirishima Eijiro! My favorite color is red, and the hero I admire the most is the Chivalrous Hero, Crimson Riot! So manly!”

As an avid researcher of heroes, he knew about Crimson Riot. An older hero who had retired about three decades ago after a pretty bad injury. He was ten when he read the reports about Crimson Riot’s injuries…

He hadn’t slept for a week when he had read that report. If he had to compare the injuries of Crimson Riot in his last battle to that of All Might’s injuries…

Crimson Riot had it worse. By far. The Chivalrous hero was still alive, using the remainder of his fortune to donate to various charities, being a hero even now, when he couldn’t do any actual work. So Crimson Riot was definitely a good choice for an inspiration, of course.

One by one they each did an introduction. Midoriya made sure to listen intently, especially when it came to people’s names. And when it came to Mineta, he couldn’t help but get angry at Mineta saying he liked “Girls” in that creepy sort of way.

Ugh, if anyone doesn’t deserve to be a hero, it’s Mineta. Creepy fucker. And now it’s time for his introduction.

“Hello everyone, my name’s Midoriya Izuku. My favorite color is green and I enjoy analyzing heroes and hero shows.” He said, and then sat down. Of course he really didn’t watch hero shows, but now he could play them in the background as he found new targets. Now that most of the larger and out in the open villain organizations, it’s time to look at more minor criminals. Thankfully there are people out there with way more time than he has on his hands, lists of things like murderers, rapists, arsonists and other severe criminals. He double checks the names, just to be sure.

“Hey dudes and dudettes, I’m Kaminari Denki. I like the color orange, and I have this one game system I really like playing.”

And then they finally finished this whole introduction, and then dispersed out into the dorm room.

Unsurprisingly, Tokoyami approached him after most of everyone had dispersed. “Midoriya, if it’s not too much trouble, I would like for you to come to my room. I have a question to ask you.”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” He replied casually, suppressing the growing knot in his chest.

* * *

Kageyama Tsuji looked out over the amount of people involved in the Kira Case. She had been a new hire, hired based on the fact that these killings were done without a quirk. These people might be the first that believe that she actually has a connection with the supernatural world, things like seeing and communing with spirits, talking to the dead, helping ghosts settle their score in this world so they could pass on to heaven. In addition she could also banish demons, request blessings, perform exorcisms, and all other things commonly associated with heaven and hell.

Nobody had believed she had a genuine connection until now. Everyone thought she was a charlatan with some sort of illusion, or mind-reading, or memory travel, or some other quirk.

She heard conversation on the other side of the door.

“Are you sure that Kira need’s both a name and a face to do his killings?” A low, deep voice said.

_“Yes. All evidence corroborates this. As leaders of criminal organizations for which we don’t know their names haven’t been murdered as of yet.”_

That could be more evidence that this was a supernatural event. These types of things tend to have specific conditions. So she raised her hand and knocked on the door. As she was eighty-two, a frail old woman, her knocks were barely audible.

But the door was opened anyway, and in the room were more heroes and sidekicks than she had ever seen in her life.

“Welcome everyone. My name is Kageyama Tsuji, and my quirk is called Supernatural Connection.” She gave a short, quick bow. “I hope I can be of service to everyone here.”

 _“Thank you Mrs. Kageyama.”_ A voice came from a laptop. The laptop had the letter “T” Written in some form of fancy “old english” style script. So this was the legendary T! _“I trust you have already been informed about enough of the case to make an educated decision about whether or not you suspect supernatural involvement?”_

She nodded, but then she realized that T couldn’t see her nodding. Her face heated up a bit, but she powered through that slight awkward moment. “Yes, I think I can suspect that at the very least. I would need to touch one of the people who recently died, the more recent the better.” She said, and everyone else looked at her surprised. This was her work, she was a medium as a day job, and she made sure to be confident and final when speaking about matters such as spirits and communicating with the dead. She called it her “medium voice”

_“Of course. The most recent death is the pro hero Red Azure Dawn, who died about twelve hours ago. If you could, I would like you to visit the morgue as soon as you can. The pro hero Death Arms can take you there within the hour. Is that okay, or do you need any additional time for anything?_

“Thank you for asking, Mr. T. And that’ll be just fine. I may be a little tired in the morning, but that’s going to be worth it, if I can help you with this case.”

A large, heavily muscled man that was currently in civilian clothes spoke up. “Ma’am, if you would come follow me, I will drive you to the morgue.”

“Thank you Mr. Death Arms. You’re a very sweet young man for doing this to me.”

“It’s no problem, ma’am. You’re a part of this case, after all.”

When she got into the car she started thinking about this whole Kira nonsense. She knew there were quite a few young people that liked what the villain does. But why? They were just a villain and nothing more.

“Mr. Death Arms, have you ever talked to someone who supported Kira?”

“There was this one young man that I talked to once about a month ago, when I was in my civilian form, who struck a conversation with me about Kira. I made sure to act neutral on the matter so I could get information.

“He explained how Kira was actually a hero. He drew comparisons between Kira and Yanluo Wang, a Chinese hero who has a Death Touch quirk. I mean, sure Yanluo Wang has killed some of the most despicable criminals, but he’s jointly registered with the IPHSA and the Jiyang, and he’s a specialty hero they have on-call for specific situations.

“Kira, of course, is not registered with any sort of international or national organization. I explained this to the teen, but he said that someone like Kira was what the world needed, to overthrow governments.”

“Don’t worry about Kira overthrowing the government Mr. Death Arms, I think that as soon as Kira kills someone innocent, his public support is going to go down the toilet.”

“Huh, I never thought about it that way.”

“Here we are, Takeda Family Morgue.” Death Arms announced as they drove into the parking spot.

She could feel the death in the dark grey, square building. It was in between some sort of burger place and a trinket shop. The sign was pristine, everything about the building was well maintained.

They walked up to the front door, which was locked. Death Arms ringed the doorbell. A weary guy came out. She could tell from here that he had seen too many dead bodies to care about what had happened to any one of them. Death Arms flashed his hero license, so the two of them were let in the door.

She felt like there was something _wrong_ in the air. There was definitely an unnatural aura in this space. She followed it until she got to the place where the bodies were. Most of them were in the fridges, but there was one on the table, covered by a sheet.

“This is the one that was killed by Kira. Tell me when I can put him back.” The guy said, walking back up the stairs.

She reached out her hand and touched the corpse.

A series of flashing images and sensations flushed through her brain.

She knew he had been touched by a Spirit of Death.

“Mr. Death Arms, I think I can make a report to T. There is a Spirit of Death that someone is controlling to kill people.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Opinion


	18. Opinion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo.....  
> yeah, sorry for the late chapter, the past couple of days have been p. stressfull.  
> I'll still try to fix up a chapter for you guys by Saturday :)  
> And I'm still working on "Ignition." It'll probably not be out for a month or so, but make sure to stay tuned :)

He had seen Tokoyami’s room before, during the whole tour of the dorms type deal. It was all dark, but there were also unusual artifacts, which included a real sword. Now that he was sitting in Tokoyami’s room, in one of the spare chairs.

“Midoriya. I’m going to be honest here. A part of my power is that I can sense the presence of spirits. I don’t know why exactly I can sense this, but I think it had to maybe do with my connection to Dark Shadow.”

Dark Shadow, which was what Tokoyami named his quirk, emerged from his stomach, and looked around the room like it was confused.

“What’s going on with Dark Shadow?” He asked. He had a very limited amount of experience with Tokoyami’s quirk, only seeing it in use during the quirk assessment test. It certainly was powerful, to be fair, but it was still confusing. Was it a mass of darkness that he controlled, was it alive itself? He had so many questions.

He watched as Dark Shadow continued to look around, and then go back into Tokoyami. “Dark Shadow thinks there is some sort of spirit following you.”

“Is that a bad thing?” He asked around the nervousness in his chest. Ryuk had said that nobody could see or hear him. But Ryuk didn’t know about how quirks, and during his late-night dives into corners of the internet, he had encountered people who said they could see ghosts, could commune with the dead, could summon spirits to do tasks, and have psychic visions. Now, this was more believable because of the sheer variety of how quirks could work.

But could there really be connections to the supernatural?

“Dark Shadow doesn’t think it’s a bad spirit. I don’t think it’s anything to be worried about Midoriya.”

“Thanks for the heads up, Tokoyami.”

“No problem, Midoriya.”

“You told me people couldn’t see or hear you!”

“That was from the last time I came down to the human world three hundred years ago. Obviously the majority of the population spontaneously developing superpowers over the course of three hundred years is not something I thought would happen. It’s not like I have much of a choice.”

“It’s fine. If we ever have to be in a scenario where someone is talking to you without touching the Death Note, say you’re my dead great-grandfather who wants to watch me be a hero. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yeah, I think I can do that. It seems pretty simple. Anyway, why did you go to UA? There’s quite a high risk of you being found out like this.”

“Of course there’s a higher risk, but I want to be a hero regardless. I’ve never been one to give up on my dreams. Even when I had nothing, I wanted to be a hero. Now that I have so much more than I had dreamed of, of course I would want to continue being a hero. That way, I can save people without using the Note.” Izuku explained, tossing an apple in the direction of the Shinigami, who caught and ate it. “Anyway, I have some names to write down before I hide the notebook.”

“Oh? Where are you going to hide the notebook?” Ryuk asked.

He gestured to the desk. “So UA provided a desk for us. And there’s a single locked cabinet that I can use. But that’s not all.”

He raised the mousepad on his desk, revealing the key. “I hid the key in a location that’s obvious enough that it’ll be found, but hidden enough that it looks like a hiding spot that I would potentially use.”

“Oh? But what are you going to do then?”

He opened up the drawer to reveal three notebooks. “These are my best Hero Analysis notebooks. For most people that should be enough of a find for them to look further, but in case that’s not enough…” He took the three notebooks out of the drawer, and then grabbed onto a small nubs on the bottom of the drawer and raised it up.

“Oh, it’s a false bottom. Well played Izuku.” Underneath the false bottom was a small notebook, but it wasn’t the Death Note.

“Huh? So where is the Death Note really?”

He simply grabbed the false bottom and turned it so it was facing straight up and down. He then grabbed a pair of small tongs and opened up a lid on the false bottom, and he tugged. After a minute or so, out came the Death Note. “It’s a double bluff, Ryuk. The few people who notice the false bottom will think that that’s all of it, that I made this false bottom to hide this notebook. I made sure to write down enough personal information in here to make it seem believable as a diary.

“I’ll see if I can think of a better hiding spot for the Note, but this is a pretty good start in my opinion.”

“I’d say so, it seems like you definitely put in some work.”

“Well, I think it’s time for me to get some dinner. Now that I’ve taken some precautions, I think it’s time for me to eat.”

* * *

It had taken him a while, but he had finally gotten the chance to take a look at the grades for the entrance exam, both the normal and recommendation exams. The Board had hired someone else, a figure known as Honest Man, who did the grading instead. But he still had the chance to review everything that he had been given.

And some of the results certainly surprised him. Especially Midoriya Izuku’s grade, a near perfect score. He knew _who_ Midoriya Izuku was, having educated him when he was training with One for All.

But All Might had never told him about the intelligence of his successor. He reviewed the test fully, paying special attention to the analysis. This certainly was something else. Why hadn’t he been informed about the raw talent of this student. He grabbed his phone and called Aizawa.

Unsurprisingly, Aizawa answered immediately.

“So I looked at the information about your students…”

_“What did you find, Nezu?”_

“Well, I think I have someone that I want to have as a personal student of mine.”

He could _hear_ the sigh from Aizawa. _“Who is it Nezu?”_

“Midoriya Izuku. His analysis especially was impressive.”

Another sigh. _“Of course it’s the problem child. Well I’ll ask him about it.”_

“Oh, and I would like to come into your class tomorrow. I have a special lesson that I would like to teach to your class.”

_“What exactly is this lesson going to entail?”_

“I think it’s going to involve Ethics. See how your class responds to certain moral problems.”

_“Very well, I’ll tell my class”_

“Thank you, Aizawa. Is there anything else would you like to mention as an addendum or additional statements?”

_“No, I just want to sleep for a day.”_

“Well good luck with that, Aizawa. Have a great day!”

 _“I won’t. I know it.”_ and with that, Aizawa hung up.

Well, he didn’t know what he was expecting. Aizawa was certainly a very good teacher, if a bit tired all the time.

* * *

 **??????:** Could you come over to my room to talk in person? There are things I want to talk about in person.

They looked at the text they received. They had thought at length about what Sensei had told them. The dorms weren’t built to catch the two of them, they were built as a chance to catch Kira. But they did have the unintended consequence of making their job harder and more difficult.

But this made sense they did need to talk. They should most certainly talk to her.

**?????:** Yeah, sure. I think that makes sense.

**??????:** Thanks! You’re the best!

**?????:** No problem!

So they got up and walked to her room. They didn’t bring their phone, leaving it on their desk, just because they were paranoid about that sort of stuff. 

“So what do you think of the dorm systems?” They asked, laying down on the bed, while she was sitting at her computer, typing something.

“I mean, it’s going to make everything significantly more difficult for us, but maybe Kurogiri can help us?”

“Sensei told us not to rely on Kurogiri so much.”

“Ok, that makes sense. What are we supposed to do now?”

“Sensei wanted us to get a copy of the lesson plans. I’ll work on figuring out a way to get them.”

“Ok, that seems cool. Tell me if you find anything useful.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

So then the two of them sat in silence. Actually, she was working on something, while they were laying on the bed thinking. They needed something new to talk about.

The door opened up, revealing Ashido. A bright and bubbly person as always. 

“Hey you two, there’s dinner if you want some!”

“Thanks!” The two of them exclaimed at nearly the same time. They immediately got up, but she stayed behind. That’s fine, she can do what she wants to, their stomach is grumbling for the want of food.

* * *

He looked at the letter that he had written, tears at the edge of his eyes. Half an hour ago, his entire world changed. He hadn’t contacted his father in about five years, ever since he learned he cheated on his mom with some young 20-something, and even had a child who had just gotten their quirk.

So he already hated that his father was a cheating bastard, but he learned something even more terrible. This woman wasn’t the first one his father had had a child with, apparently he had a half-brother who was fifteen. This letter was going to be the final words he would ever say to that man. He shouldn’t even call him his father. He would much rather have his new stepfather as a father, and call him dad. Hell, he didn’t even know his father’s real name, the man gathered fake names around him like it was a storm.

_Takahashi Ichiro,_

_I can’t believe that you would do this to Mom. Cheating on her with not one, but_ two _women, as well as having children with them? Learning I have a half-brother only a year younger than me out there in addition to the nine-year-old half-sister I already knew about?_

_At least you left, that way mom could get her maiden name back. Never respond to me again, even if you tell me who my half-brother is. I’ll find him myself, without you. At least Hayumi wised up enough to kick you out into the street, and now I have a half-sister that I’ll love more than you ever will._

_I despise you. Hope you enjoy living out on the streets, it’s where you belong._

_I’ll repeat this to you again, never contact me again you piece of shit._

_From-_

_Your former son._

He put the note in the letter, still holding back his tears. This was a burning of the bridge, in a way. His stepfather was his new father now. But what should he call the man who used to be his father? He had heard the name “sperm donor” tossed around. He liked that.

He sat back in his chair. It was late, after all, too late for him to be able to send his letter. He would do it first thing tomorrow.

Now, how to find his half-brother. It seemed like a monumental task, but he could do it.

As he sat back up, he had a paper to write, after all, his phone rang. He recognized the specific ringtone of his mother, so he picked it up.

“Hey mom, what’s with the sudden call?” He asked, thoughts of worst-case scenarios running through his head, his hands shaking with energy.

 _“Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that Suzuki and Hayumi are here at the house.”_ His mom said from the other side, without a trace of worry. _“Apparently Hayumi has started dating this very nice gentleman who has an eight-year-old son named Sakyo. His name’s Yatashi, and he’s_ so _sweet and nice, she_ definitely _deserves him.”_ His mom explained, joy apparent in every word.

“That’s amazing! I’m glad that Hayumi found someone she deserves. Sorry, I was expecting bad news at a time like this.” He said, breathing out a sigh of relief. “Have you and dad asked some questions already?”

His mom laughed at the other end. _“Oh of course we did, what did you expect?”_ There was a pause then. _“Wait, you’re calling him dad now?”_

He sighed. “I think he deserves it. I just wrote a letter to _him_ , and I basically burned the bridge.”

_“Oh. Well I’m glad you were able to do that. Do you think you can come over on the weekend so that you can meet Sakyo and Yatashi?”_

“That won’t be a problem mom.”

_“Love you.”_

“Love you too.”

_“Bye.”_

“Bye.”

-Click-

He set the phone down, breathing lightly, slowly, making sure to have measured breaths. This was heavy news, of course. But it was positive, still. This was a good omen, maybe, that he would be able to find his half-brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Yakisoba


	19. Yakisoba

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, a late chapter...  
> But I've gotten back on track, and the next chapter'll be uploaded on Wednesday.

Cooking was one of Izuku’s favorite things to do. It allowed him to do something with his hands, focusing on two or three things being made at once, all while having the benefit of having moments of time to relax, to think without being disturbed, because who would ever disturb someone who was making food. And it was also a pretty good disguise? Who would expect Kira to make his classmates food?

Of course, he couldn’t really cook for 20, something like that would be out of the scope of something he could make in a reasonable amount of time, but maybe he could make enough food for the type of people that can’t cook anything to save their lives to have at least _something_.

Or maybe this is going to be terrible, but hey, he can try at the very least. People like Yakisoba, right? It’s something that’s fairly simple, but it can be satisfying. There was a recipe that he had found about six months ago that was pretty good. His mom had liked it, so that was as good of a mark as any in his book.

So how many people does he make for? How about doubling the recipe, that would be pretty simple. So he scrounged around the kitchen, looking for the required materials for the recipe he had found. An onion, two carrots, a bunch of shiitake mushrooms and green onions. Cool, so he has the vegetables. Now what in the way of meat is there?

After rooting around, he did find some pork. That would be good enough. 

And while there were the necessary noodles, there wasn’t any yakisoba sauce. A shame, but he did know how to make his own. And one look through the cabinets and fridge of the kitchen he managed to find what he needed. He had made this enough times, when his mom had been working really late, that he didn’t need to pay much attention to the process of what he was doing. So that meant that he could think about his next moves. More importantly, how was he going to find T?

T certainly was extremely skilled at the work he had done, especially with taking down the dozens of organizations that All for One established during his time as a supervillain beyond comparison. Apparently, however, he had taken interest in the Kira case. Why? All for One is still out there according to a note that Stain provided. Maybe over the weekend, he could meet up with Stain for real, so that he can ask about All for One. Or maybe he can ask All Might. There’s multiple paths to get to the same outcome.

Maybe he’ll ask All Might first, then Stain later on. That way he can get a more complete picture of the state of All for One, if he’s still around.

Since it’s about the time that most people would be having dinner, he saw Ashido come running down the stairs. “Hey Midoriya! What are you making?” She asked, sitting down at one of the stools in the kitchen.

“Just some Yakisoba. I’m making enough for a few lucky folks to have some.” He said as he was adding the noodles to the pan he was making it in.

“Ooh! Could you save a dish for me?” She asked.

“Sure, I can definitely do that.” He said. While he may not be a direct suspect at this point, he was still under observation. What about it T? Would Kira cook dinner for his classmates? What do you think of that?

“Thanks Midoriya, you’re the best. Anyways, what did you think of Eraserhead-sensei’s first class?”

“Well, like what Eraserhead-sensei said, UA is known for a different education system, and being a hero is a complicated and demanding job.” he paused for a bit, before lowering his voice. “Have you seen the statistics?”

She seemed confused. “What do you mean statistics?”

“Only 84% of heroes make it to the age of fifty alive and still able to do their job. There’s a laundry list of injuries that have put a hero out of a job.”

That seemed to make her think. “I never heard any of that.” She finally said.

“It’s not something that is usually mentioned in discussions of being a hero. I just want to make sure you know the risks.” He said. There was way more he wanted to say, but T, or someone that was part of the investigation, was most certainly watching.

“Thanks Midoriya.”

Ashido had ran off when he was almost done, making the finishing touches, muttering something about “drama senses going off.” He had no idea what she was talking about, but hey, he promised that he would save her a dish. So he rummaged around in the cabinets until he found some tupperware. He tossed enough of the yakisoba for a meal into the container and put it in the fridge, after he had taken out a marker and written “for Ashido Mina” on it. He helped himself to a serving of his yakisoba, moved the rest to a pot and put it on the keep warm section of the stove.

And it was none too soon, about a minute after he started eating his food, he saw Bakugo storming down into the kitchen.

“Deku, what the hell did you make?”

“Some yakisoba, it’s probably not as spicy as you usually like, but you can have some if you want.”

“I ain’t having none of your shitty food, Deku. I’m gonna make my own damn food.”

Suit yourself, Bakugo.

As Bakugo was getting his food ready for whatever he was making, a few people popped in, and Izuku made sure to lead them to the food that he had made in advance. It only lasted for three more people, but that’s fine. He had made sure to make his food earlier, so he can avoid the dinner rush. And more importantly, he can see a general assessment of how people were able to cook. Maybe they could organize some sort of scedule, except he’s terrible at scheduling, so it’s probably not going to be him that makes the scedule.

Ashido showed up in the middle of about five or six people making food with a variety of skill levels. 

“Your food’s in the fridge Ashido.”

“Thank you, Mido.” She said as she went into the fridge to grab it.

As he got up, puting his dishes in the dishwasher, Tokoyami approached him. He knew that Tokoyami had been one of the ones that had grabbed one of his meals. “Hey Midoriya, thank you for the meal. It was good.”

“It’s no problem, Tokoyami.”

It had been a long day for him, and he just needed some rest. There was going to be a long day of classes in the future most likely, and he still needed to find fake heroes and wanted criminals, he couldn’t slack off now.

* * *

T looked over the reports they had recieved, a new cup of tea beside them, still steaming as it had just been poured. There was no new information on Kira, despite twelve more villains having died in the past two weeks. This was the most frustrating case he had ever worked on. They knew that Kira was currently, or had once lived in, Musutafu or the area around it. They suspected that Kira was young, radicalized by Stain’s ideology, and could potentially be a student at a hero school.

In other words, not enough information.

Kira can kill anyone in the world with just a name and a face, but _finding_ the names and faces…

Now that’s definitely something he could take care of. How does Kira find the information that he uses? For the wanted criminals, it’s obvious how, there’s countless websites all over the internet, including official news sites with thousands of viewers. But for some of the more underground villains, as well as the heroes that Kira killed, that sort of information wasn’t the type of information most people can find. It’s possible, of course, but doing some digging most anything could be found, and many of those heroes were minor enough that the Hero Comission didn’t cover it up.

He _knew_ the Hero Comission was covering up the crimes of various heroes, but that would be an issue once he’s sure All for One has been executed, any residual organizations mopped up, and other major villain organizations stomped out. (He had heard rumors that Re-Destro was gathering up an army. If Re-Destro was anything like the original… well that might be a problem).

Oh yeah, and this whole Kira matter is taken care of. He needs Kira to do something bold. How to force his hand though? Make him act from the shadows? He knows there’s a possibility Kira is currently at UA, he puts the odds at .7% at this point. A second broadcast wouldn’t work.

There has to be a piece that he is missing. Something that he could do to force Kira to make a bigger move?

Or maybe some piece of information that he was missing?

He switched on the transmitter.

 _“T, we have people reading the Stain and Kira fansites, and they didn’t find much of anything. Stain is still active in the Saitama region of Japan, and while several people have claimed to be Kira on these sites. We followed up on these clues, but nobody who claimed to be Kira was actually Kira.”_ He heard Kamui Woods say from the other side of the laptop.

“I suspected as much. We’ll probably have to have a thousand, if not more, fake Kiras before we find the real one. This is going to require a lot of work.”

 _“That’s what I don’t understand! Why would people pretend that they are Kira when they’re not? Don’t they know that Kira is a criminal?”_ Ōtādoragon said from a distance.

“It’s the same reason that terrorist organizations claim responsibility for their attacks. Because it generates recognition and publicity. The people that claim to be Kira don’t have much going for them. To claim to be Kira, it means that they can get attention.”

 _“Oh! I get it now!”_ She replies. _“But what if one of them is the real Kira?”_

_“That’s why I still interrogate each and every person that we find that claimed to be Kira. And I actually did find a few people who had comitted minor crimes, such as burglary, vandalism or something like that.”_

Yeah he had seen that, many of the people that had fake claimed to be Kira had tagged buildings with various symbols that represent Kira, as well as other minor crimes, like trespassing. 

But the most surprising thing they found was three days ago, during the interview of Ikadzuki Taiyo, one of the people who said they were Kira on a forum called bladesofkira.net. His memory easily recalled the report.

_Report filed by Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa:_

_Detective Tsukauchi (DT): Your name is Ikadzuki Taiyo, correct?_

_Ikadzuki Taiyo (IT): Yes_ [True]

_DT: You are nineteen years old, correct?_

_IT: Yes_ [True]

_DT: You live in Hiroshima?_

_IT: Yes_ [True]

_DT: Alright, let’s get to business. Do you have an account on the forum website bladesofkira.net?_

_IT: Well I do, but it’s not like it’s illegal or anything._ [True]

_DT: Ok then. Were you a moderator on the site I asked previously?_

_IT: Yeah, so what? They thought I was good for the job._ [True]

_DT: Did you claim to be Kira on said website?_

_IT: No? I never said that._ [False]

_DT: Have you tagged buildings with Kira symbology?_

_IT: No._ [False]

_DT: Have you done anything to support Kira?_

_IT: I mean, I posted info about heroes that I found on the forum, and I’m like eighty percent sure that Kira reads the website._ [True]

_DT: Have you comitted any crimes to further the cause of Kira or Stain?_

_IT: Of course not. All I do is moderate a Kira forum, that’s it._ [False]

_DT: You do know what my quirk is, right?_

_IT: No, what’s your quirk?_ [True]

_DT: My quirk allows me to determine if someone is lying. I suggest telling the truth from now on._

_IT: Oh shit._

_DT: So, have you committed any crimes to futher the crimes of Kira?_

_IT: Yeah._ [True]

The report continued on, eventually revealing that Ikadzuki Taiyo had killed six villains and a hero. That last part was worrying. Ikadzuki Taiyo was by all measures a normal nineteen year old. Sure he had _some_ martial arts training, and apparently had done quite a bit of individual quirk training, but Shadow Nimbus was a pro hero, who had three years of training at Ketsubustu, and was the number 343 pro hero. Sure Shadow Nimbus had a bad matchup when it came to Ikadzuki’s quirk, but still…

It was worring that a moderately trained civilian could take out a pro hero. He should reach out to hero schools and have them upgrade their training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Openness


	20. Openness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late chapter again, sorry guys... this weeks been hectic.  
> I'll see if I can get a chapter up tomorrow....
> 
> Yadda Yadda look for Ignition sometime soon and all that crap.

Shigaraki might be a villain, but he was a villain with a weird sort of style. Their first official meeting had been in the ruins of a Chinese city, but this place was different entirely. There was a castle to his left, half-buried in the rolling grassy hills and low bushes all around them. There were scattered pieces of the castle spread pretty far out, rough pieces of whitened stone bricks scattered around the hills. There was a tower in the distance, ruined as well, but still looking tall even in this state. Pieces of wall were still connected to the tower. The sun hung low in the sky, but the dew on the grass told him that wherever this was in the world, it was morning.

He then turned to his left. There was a massive factory there, sitting in the middle of nowhere, clearly abandoned even from a half-mile away. The roof had fallen in from what he could see, and there was a tree growing in the middle. There was a road that led to it that looked pretty worn down.

In the middle of the two was Shigaraki, who had laid himself across a stone piece that was further away than all the rest, seemingly uncaring about the rough stone he was laying on, hands resting on the stone surface, with only his pinky finger on each hand raised. “You’ve got a flair for the dramatic, don’t you Shigaraki?” He asked as he approached the “head” of the League of Villains, his boots darkening in color because of the morning dew on the grass. His boots were waterproof, thankfully, so he didn’t feel it.

“What can I say, Stain?” Shigaraki responded. “Kurogiri doesn’t have a maximum range, so I might as well use him to explore all of these ruins all over the world. There really are so many of these areas around the world.” The villain then gestured at the factory. “Look at that, Stain. It’s a factory. But the factory has been abandoned, and nature reclaimed it. This whole society is unnatural, a false stability that people die every day to maintain. People walk around, feeling safe, assured that heroes will protect them.

“But the truth is the world is dangerous. There are tens of millions of quirks out there that can kill people easier than you might think. People ignore this fact, keep to themselves, don’t pay attention to the fact they could die at a moment’s notice. That’s what I am going to do. Peel back the gild and reveal the truth. What do you think about this, Stain?”

It took him a moment to process Shigaraki’s speech. During that moment, a gust of wind picked up, picking up his scarves and making them flap in the wind. He had never thought about the wider society in general. He had seen a problem with fake heroes, but he had ignored the bigger picture.

Looking back, it did make sense. He had been bullied for having a “villainous quirk”, he had applied to the hero course at Shinketsu out of spite. He got in (Shinketsu’s practical exam was a lot different than how Crafter described the UA entrance exam, another problem), but he quickly found out how fake everyone was, and he dropped out after only six months.

“I agree with you. Fake Heroes are a part of the whole large problem. But you do need a plan, Shigaraki. All the talking in the world is useless if you don’t do anything with it. As you should know, I despise people who are all talk and no action.”

“I do have a plan, Stain. I have moles in UA, and they’ll reveal the perfect time to strike. Patience is key. I learned that from Sensei. Biding time, waiting for the right time, waiting to strike like a python. You understand this, of course, with your ambush tactics.” Shigaraki explained, sitting up and sliding off of the worn piece of castle until his feet were on the ground.

“Of course.” He replied. He understood how ambush tactics worked. “Anyway, what do you think of Kira? He’s been called ‘the killer hiding behind a screen’. I definitely think that I’ve inspired him, but aside from that I don’t know much about them.”

“I think Kira is a coward.” Shigaraki said.

And that definitely surprised him. Kira, a coward? How could this be?

“How is Kira a coward, Shigaraki? I don’t get it.”

Shigaraki placed his hand onto the piece of rubble, watching it crack, crumble, and splinter under his touch, decaying piece by piece until the entire stone was dust that was picked up by the wind.

“You said it yourself, Stain. Kira hides behind a screen, killing from a distance. You risk getting caught every single time you go out, yet Kira can just kill whoever they want.”

“Sure that’s the case, but keep in mind that T, one of the greatest detectives in the world, is hunting him down. I wouldn’t want that pressure on me.” He reasoned.

“Sensei’s been the target of T for decades, and he’s been working pretty fine, despite the fact that everything he’s built up for decades has been torn down. He’s definitely glad the pressure is taken off of him. Of course, Sensei is hunting down Kira himself.”

“Why is All for One hunting down Kira?” He asked. He was confused. Why did All for One want to find Kira?

“Sensei wants to steal Kira’s quirk.” Shigaraki answered. “Kira’s quirk is arguably one of the most powerful out in the world. With it, Sensei can rule the world. Or at least Japan.”

Now that was a scary thought. He had to make sure to find Kira before both T _and_ All for One. Sure he was at a disadvantage, as T had the support of Kamui Wood’s hero agency _and_ the international community. Basically, T was who the “establishment” wanted to catch Kira. In a similar way, All for One was the most powerful criminal, having the backing of a large underground empire with him at the head.

“Well then. We’ll meet again when you’ve decided on a course of action, right?” He asks, just to make sure that he had everything taken care of.

“Of course.” Shigaraki replied. And with that, a portal opened up. This was Kurogiri’s doing, of course. And that was the sign that he had to leave. “Until next time, Shigaraki.”

“Until next time, Stain.” And with that, he walked through the portal, ending up in the same alleyway he had left from. Well, this was information he would have to use in the future.

* * *

Spinner looked around at the group he had gathered. Unlike his companions, he’s been out active in the forms looking at what people were doing.

The results are more than he was expecting. There even was one person that had managed to kill a hero in the name of Kira. As much as he liked Kira, he liked Stain better. Stain didn’t have the almighty power that Kira has, killing at melee range. But Kira was beneficial, spreading Stain’s will around the world.

**Private Message between Bladeofstain and Burnin’ Man**

**Bladeofstain:** Why are you messaging me?

**Burnin’ Man:** My older brother was just captured by the heroes.

**Bladeofstain:** That’s a risk that comes when you execute Stain’s will. Or Kira’s will, whichever you prefer.

**Burnin’ Man:** Still, our quirks are almost identical, do you think I should continue doing Kira’s will?

He had to resist the urge to face palm. He didn’t know much about who he was messaging, but he knew that the person behind Burnin’ Man was young, a teenager.

**Bladeofstain:** You’re like 17 dude, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you.

 **Bladeofstain:** If you _really_ want to fulfill Kira’s will at your age, get some training on the side, grow up, train your quirk, and just fucking _wait_.

**Burnin’ Man:** But if I commit crimes at this point, I can get a lesser sentence!

**Bladeofstain:** Fucking hell, man. When it comes to murder and shit like that, you can get tried as an adult for killing a hero, man. Age doesn’t fucking matter.

**Burnin’ Man:** Shit, man. That’s real?

He wanted so hard to facepalm himself. This kid really was dumb. As much as he wanted to spread the will of Stain, he didn’t want to ruin anyone’s life, or lead someone on a dark path, like he’d do if he did anything else but try to convince him to not to.

**Bladeofstain:** Yes.

 **Bladeofstain:** Look, if you know the jail cell he’s kept in, I’ll see what I can do about freeing him.

**Burnin’ Man:** You real, man?

**Bladeofstain:** Yeah.

**Burnin’ Man:** Ok, I’ll see what I can find.

**_Burnin’ Man has logged off._ **

He gave a sigh of relief. Hopefully this dude’s older brother was smarter than this guy. Still, planning a jailbreak was no easy business. He should call in some heavier artillery. Like Dabi, for example. He pressed the latest number he had for Dabi in his contacts. The guy had burned (heh) through like fifteen cheap flip phones.

Thankfully the number he had worked and the call went through.

 _“Hey Spinner, why are you calling me?”_ Dabi asked over the phone, sounding both annoyed and exhausted. 

“How would you like to do a jailbreak? Breaking someone out of jail?” He asked.

 _“I know what a jailbreak is. Anyway, what’s the specifics of your scenario?”_ Dabi asked. As much as he didn’t seem it, Dabi actually was really smart.

“It’s someone that was arrested for furthering the cause of Stain and Kira. I’ll get some details later. It doesn’t sound like he’s in Tartarus though.”

 _“Well then sign me the fuck up. I’m fucking bored as shit.”_ Dabi replied. _“Anyways, if I get a new phone number I’ll keep you updated. I’ve never done a jailbreak before.”_

It seemed like Dabi was just doing this for fun. Whatever. He can deal with it. 

“And I’ll keep you updated as well. Thanks for helping. Do you think we should invite other people to this task?”

 _“Nah, we can keep this small. The less people that know the better. If I were a bolder man I would ask All for One if Crafter can come along with us. Workplace experience as it were.”_ Dabi said.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at Dabi’s comment. “Fuck it, I’ll ask All for One about this.”

_“Good fucking luck Spinner. Don’t die.”_

* * *

_He was standing alone, surrounded by corpses. There was a figure standing in the distance, cloaked in shadow. Kira._

_“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Kira? You fucking killed everyone!” He yelled out._

_The figure cloaked in shadow walked forward._

_“What does it matter, why do you care? You became a hero to defeat criminals, to defeat me, not to save civilians. Here’s your chance to defeat me, I won’t use my killing power. It doesn’t matter, you still won’t win._

_“Fuck you, Kira!” He yelled out, explosions dancing on his palms. He launched himself at the form of Kira, getting ever closer, using his quirk to create light, trying to illuminate the darkened form of Kira._

_But it was no use, Kira was as dark as they had ever been. If anything, they looked even darker._

_“Now that’s what I was talking about, Bakugo. Violence begets violence. And now I’ll show you what that really means._

_Countless tendrils of shadow flowed out of the form of Kira so dark it was a silhouette, wrapping around him, pinning his hands together so he couldn’t use his quirk, pinning his arms and legs together so he couldn’t move to free himself, covering his nose and mouth so he couldn’t breathe…_

He woke up, sweating, breathing heavily. He took a glance at his alarm clock, which read 2:27 am.

It had been another nightmare. These had been happening increasingly ever since he had seen what Kira was doing. Thanks to T’s broadcast, he had seen that Kira was willing to eliminate people who were gunning after him. And as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he was _terrified_ of Kira. Kira could kill anywhere at any time, and he was trying to catch the villain.

He went over to a drawer on his dresser, opening it with his foot. It was a bit awkward, but he did manage to do it. He grabbed a special rag from the drawer and rubbed it on his hands. These rags were made of a special material that neutralized his explosive sweat. How they worked exactly he had no damn idea, but they _did_ work, so that’s all that fucking matters.

Fucking Kira! Making him fear shit and everything like that. He finished wiping his hands on the rag, and then tossing it in a metal pot.

One of the reasons he didn’t reveal his room is because of all the stuff in here which pertained to his quirk.

The second reason was it’s his fucking room and none of these damn extras (and Deku) needed to see it.

He went over to the small half-bathroom that was attached to his dorm, filling up a cup with water and drinking it. He took a few long breaths. Think about this logically, Katsuki. Kira has to have some limitations, otherwise Kira wouldn’t continue hunting down villains. And T, as well as Kamui Wood’s hero agency, would also be dead.

Fuck all that shit. He’ll find a way to kill Kira and become the number one hero anyways. There’s always a fucking way that he can solve these problems. Kira was nearby, he knew that much. 

Well he needs some fucking sleep. Tomorrow was their first full day of classes, and he needs to be on top of his game if he’s going to finally beat Deku in academics, and to beat Kira in a fight.

He’ll be the Number One hero, nothing’s going to fucking stop him. Not fucking nightmares, not fucking Deku, and not fucking Kira.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Unexpected


	21. Unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa boy this chapter's heavy.  
> CW for difficult decisions, no-win scenarios.  
> In my opinion, this is something that would definitely be brought up in the hero course, and Aizawa wouldn't be the type of person to sugercoat this.  
> (Manga Spoilers in Brackets)  
> [Yes I'm pulling from Aizawa's experience fifteen years ago with Shirakumo don't @ me]

What exactly was the purpose of their homeroom class? Midoriya Izuku wasn’t sure exactly what the purpose was, but Aizawa-sensei wasn’t the type to do things without purpose. Maybe it was where Aizawa-sensei would share additional information, or do things that didn’t fit into the usual educational style.

Actually, that sort of made sense. While the guy looked ragged, long hair, stubble, and a perpetually tired expression, he was quite smart.

“Alright problem children.” Aizawa-sensei announced. “Today we’re going to have a special guess, as well as a special lesson that will make up the rest of the homeroom class today.”

That got an outpour from the class as they all talked about what could this be. He himself had thoughts swimming in his head. This obviously wasn’t something that had been planned ahead of time that much. And because this was UA, it was most likely a pro hero. So they probably got some high-ranking pro hero that was going to give a speech about heroics or something like that, and then they were going to do something as a class, maybe facing the Pro Hero twenty on one or something like that.

What he wasn’t expecting was the large door opening to reveal the UA principal, Principal Nezu.

“Am I a mouse? A bear? A dog? All that matters is that I’m the UA Principal!” The principal announced, looking around a room with a gaze that made it look like he knew all the deepest, darkest secrets you were hiding. Of course that wasn’t the truth, because if the Principal knew all of his deepest, darkest secrets, he would be sitting in a jail cell most likely. Not Tartarus, for sure, but definitely a high-security prison. Or maybe executed. Or just tossed into some cottage in the mountains, sans Death Note, and placed under house arrest.

After the Principal finished his explaination and Aizawa-sensei got into his sleeping bag and fell to the ground, the Principal spoke again. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something that heroes don’t think about that much. Ethics.”

What did the Principal mean by ethics? 

“Now, I can see you’re all wondering what exactly I mean by ethics. I’ll propose to you a question with no correct answer, an unwinnable scenario as it were.” The Principal pulled out a small device that was in his pocket and clicked a button on it. A previously unnoticed projector turned on, revealing a simple, yet expertly drawn diagram. It only took one second for him to recognize that diagram. It was a train car on a track. There was one side of the track where five people were tied down, and a second, diversionary path with only a single person tied down. There was a silhouette in the distance, indistinct enough to look like any sort of human, with a hand on a lever.

“Look at this scenario for a moment. Assume the conditions are as follows: The train and railroad tracks are indestructible. You have insufficient time to free anyone from the tracks. Therefore, you are left with two choices. Do you pull the lever and kill only a single person, or do you do nothing and allow five people to die.” There was a pause, in which he heard some of his classmates arguing. “Now.” The principal said, stopping all the conversation without raising his voice even slightly. “This scenario seems unlikely. And in fact, this specific scenario is unlikely, if not impossible to happen. But this is a simplified version of very real scenarios you might encounter in the wild. So what is your choice, students? What are you going to do?” The principal asked, a glint in his eye.

This was something that he had to think about carefully. This was probably something that T had requested this specific lesson to be taught in classes at UA and the other hero courses. Of course, as Kira the choice was obvious. He would kill the one person to save the five. But would that be what a hero student would do? What would All Might do?

**_“Never fear, for I am here!”_ ** _He imagined All Might yelling out, standing in front of the train car and grabbing it, not putting the full force into it to protect the people inside. Everyone was saved._

No, no Izuku, that’s not possible.

**_“Never fear, for I am here!”_ ** _He imagined All Might yelling out as he arrived at the scene, grabbing each and every person, freeing them from the binds with his super strength, and rescuing everyone._

Why couldn’t he imagine what All Might would do in this scenario. Maybe it’s because as much as he knew All Might, he didn’t _know_ All Might at all. Maybe it’s because he simply couldn’t _see_ All Might making such a difficult decision. Has All Might had to make a difficult decision like this? Definitely. But he didn’t know what All Might would do.

He looked around at his classmates, they were all deep in thought. Iida looked like he was about to burst from thinking about this problem. Eventually, surprisingly, it was Uraraka who raised her hand first.

“I mean, I know it’s cruel and all, but I would pull the lever. I mean, I think I would feel bad either way, but the fact that I killed five people through inaction, I don’t think that I could live with that.”

The bubble finally burst, the ice was broken, or something like that. People began to murmur their assent to this idea, him included.

“Well, you seem to have made up your mind. How about I present another scenario?” The principal asked, and clicked the button again.

The projector clicked, and the projection clicked and moved to another scene, this time the shadowy figure was standing in front of an overweight person. The train was moving beneath the two figures, and once again there were five people tied up at the bottom.

“Alright, here are the rules for the second scenario. Once again you have two choices. You can push the overweight person off the ledge to stop the train. You can tell from visual cues they have a quirk that allows them to block the train, but they would die in the attempt. What do you do now?”

Aaaand if the first question was difficult, this one was more so. Of course if he was thinking like Kira, or if he was wearing his Seishin disguise, the solution was obvious. He would push this person. But as a hero, there was no way. He needed to get that opinion made as soon as he could. So he spoke up.

“I would do nothing.” He said, quelling the knot that was twisted in his gut. “That would go against everything I learned to do as a hero.”

And as usual, everyone else murmured assent.

“Ok, now here’s a difficult question. Why did you choose to pull the lever, but not to push the person off the ledge. In both scenarios, the same amount of people die if you take action, and the same amount of people die if you do nothing. So why did you choose one action in one scenario and a different action in the next? Think about that, future heroes.” Nezu said as he left the classroom.

There was absolute silence. Even he was stunned. Of course, he wasn’t really having that much of a crisis of faith as his fellow classmates, because he chose the same option both times, but even he had a different answer when acting in a hero persona.

After a few more seconds, Aizawa-sensei got up from where he was sitting, muttering something under his breath that Izuku couldn’t hear from this distance, and then spoke up fully so everyone could hear. “Being a hero sometimes means making tough choices. No hero can save everyone, protect everyone, all the time. You are going to be in situations where every choice seems like it’s the wrong one, where everything seems to get worse no matter what choice you make. In these sorts of situations where you feel like everything is hopeless and you can never make the right choices, trust your instincts. Save as many people as possible. Hero work is dangerous and taxing, for both the body and the mind.

“I’m going to give all of you an option now. You can leave, get your bag and head to your dorm room, and I won’t judge you. Being a hero has become deified in our current society to the point that every child’s dream is to be a hero. But hero work is not for everyone. If you choose to stay now, you can leave at any time of course. But you must find the reason you want to brave the tides, keep on going when nobody else will follow.

“I don’t believe in sugar coating anything. So now I will let you make your choice.” Aizawa-sensei concluded.

He heard a shifting noise from behind him. It was Mineta. He got up from his seat and grabbed his bag, running out of the classroom. Izuku did notice that most of the girls breathed a sigh of relief. (Well, he wasn’t so sure about Hagakure, she barely moved) There was something behind this whole thing he was sure of it.

“Don’t judge Mineta for leaving the hero course. It took great courage for him to admit that he wasn’t a good fit for the hero course.” Aizawa said. “Now, I’m going to present the class schedule.” Out of his sleeping bag he pulled out a stack of papers. “Take these and pass them back please.” Aizawa-sensei added as he descended into his sleeping bag. Hagakure, Shoji, Ashido, and Ojiro got up, grabbed five papers, and sat back down, and passed them down. Izuku saw the paper himself. So their next class would be a math class, taught by Ectoplasm. Well this might be good, something to distract himself from the _heavy_ weight of what Aizawa-sensei and Principal Nezu said.

* * *

T needed a mole in UA, that much was obvious. He had recruited people to say one-off lines, sure, but he would most definitely need someone a bit more permanent. And after looking at the results from both the normal and recommendation exam, there was only one option for him to look into.

The paper showing the results for Midoriya Izuku was staring back at him.

* * *

“Alright, class, how many of you are familiar with factoring by parts?” Ectoplasm asked, writing down the formula 4x4 \+ 19x2 \+ 21 on the board. “Try to solve this equation.”

Midoriya wrote down the equation on his paper. Looks like UA wasn’t pulling it’s punches when it comes to equations. He divided up the equation, splitting the parts and eventually ending up with (4x2\+ 7)(x2 \+ 3). He double checked, just to make sure he got it right.

“Does anyone have the solution to this equation?” Ectoplasm asked. Midoriya raised his hand. “I think I have the correct answer Ectoplasm-sensei.”

Ectoplasm gestured for him to write his answer on the board. “That’s correct, Midoriya. Can you explain what you did to get this answer?”

“Of course. So the first thing I did was split up the equation.” He wrote the split equation on the board. “Then I split it up, factored out a common multiple, and simplified the equation.” He wrote down each step that he did, until he ended up with the finished equation. “These are the steps that I took to get to the equation.”

“Excellent work, Midoriya. Please sit down.” Ectoplasm said, and he did indeed sit down. “Now, if you didn’t get this answer, let me explain how to solve this equation.”

At that point, a message went off on Ectoplasm’s computer. “Excuse me for a moment, I need to check this email.” The hero dipped down and turned on his computer. “Midoriya, could you head to the principal’s office?”

He grabbed his things and left the room pointedly ignoring his classmates making theories about what he had done to deserve going to the principal’s office. In truth, there was a thought nestled deep in his mind that was tugging at him. It was unlikely, of course, but there was the faint possibility that T had found something that incriminated him. Maybe his Death Note had been found.

No, Izuku. Take deep breaths. Measure your breathing. This is normal, right? Being nervous to go to the principal’s office? Except he wasn’t pretending to be nervous, after all.

The hallways of UA were quite large, but it took him little time to get to Principal Nezu’s office. Of course, he knew the principal had a quirk that made him incredibly smart, so the principal probably placed his office where he did for a reason.

He hesitantly raised his hand and after a pause knocked on the principal’s door.

“Come in Midoriya.” A voice came from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bye bye grape. See ya never. Lel.
> 
> To those who theorized about who's T, well I'm gonna say you'll finally get your answer. Maybe. Oooor I could just tease you more~  
> If you have any questions, theories, criticisms or just want to say hi, comment! I read every comment and reply to most of them, so comment away~
> 
> Next Chapter: Knowledge


	22. Knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reward for being patient for my late uploading, have a bonus chapter! This isn't replacing my Wednesday update (There will still be an update on Wednesday. 
> 
> Actually, come to think about it, Wednesday is pronounced weird, sort of like "Wendsday". And then there's the origin of Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday -> Thorsday -> Thor's Day. Wednesday -> Wodinsday -> Odin's Day.  
> Anyway, I'll see if I can make this a usual thing. I'll give you a bit of trivia every day. :)

Principal Nezu’s office was simple, but everything in this room had a purpose, every single object in the room had a purpose, even if it was decorative. The UA principal was sitting behind his desk, hands folded as he was looking at the screen on a laptop, papers sorted neatly on the desk, a half-dozen pencils and pens were on the desk, but besides that the heavy dark wood desk with a golden metal trim was clean, polished and shining. The desk had no ornamentation, but Izuku knew that this was a desk of high quality. There were comfortable armchairs scattered around the room, placed so that everyone could talk to everyone else.

Principal Nezu was not the only person in the room. All Might was here too (in his skinny form, so he was technically Yagi).

“Why was I called here?” He asked.

“Would you like to have some tea?” Principal Nezu asked, pointing to an electric kettle that was whistling slightly. “Looks like I timed making it correctly.”

“Sure, why not.” He said, walking over to where Nezu was pouring tea and grabbed a cup. After blowing on it for a bit, he took a sip. He couldn’t tell what exactly was in the tea, but it was a perfect blend, a mix of flavours and scents that were easy on the nose, tongue, and throat. “This is amazing, thank you.” He said. And to be truthful, he felt slightly less nervous about this.

“And Midoriya, you’re not in trouble for anything, if you were worried about that.” He couldn’t help but exhale as the knotting tension in his stomach unraveled. Not entirely, but mostly. He didn’t want to feel too comfortable anywhere. 

“So why am I here?” He asked again, this time directing the question more at Yagi then the Principal.

“I managed to get a hand on your recommendation exam test scores, and I have to say I was quite impressed. I really wished that Yagi here had told me about your mental abilities. In fact, there’s something that I think you need to hear about. It concerns a villain known as All for One. I’ll let Yagi take it from here.” Nezu explained.

Izuku shifted his gaze from Nezu to Yagi. He had heard about All for One from Stain directly. He hadn’t gone out as Seishin for a while, but he was still in contact with Stain and the rest of his group. Huh, they really did need a name. Maybe he’ll ask Spinner about it, Spinner sounds like the type of person who would be good at naming things.

“So you know how about eleven months ago I showed you the injury on my stomach, and it was caused by a fight with a villain?” Yagi asked.

He nodded. He remembered the conversation well, he could still see the injury in his mind’s eye. It was a large, ugly, pinkish scar, skin tight and stretched around the wound. “Yes, Is… Is All for One the villain that you fought?” He asked. The connection was obvious. Hold on, All for One… One for All…

“And is there a connection between One for All and All for One?”

“Yes on both accounts, Young Midoriya. And I wanted to wait to tell you this, but Nezu convinced me that this was something that you needed to know as soon as possible, especially if there’s a chance that All for One is still alive.

“This story begins when quirks started suddenly appearing all around the world. I trust you are familiar with how quirks started appearing?”

He nodded. Of course he had. It was a story that was told in every school to every student. Izuku had the faintest sense that this story was falsified in some way. It probably wasn’t an outright lie, but details have most certainly been embellished.

“Well, in the earliest days of quirks appearing, the world was in chaos, there were wars, disease, famine, mass poverty and the effects of a changing planet. Everything came to a head when a man gained the power to take quirks, and give those stolen quirks to others, at the cost of these people becoming his supporters. Using his power, he becomes the ruler of Japan. But this man had a brother, a weak, sickly brother, but a brother nevertheless. All for One thought his brother was quirkless, so after having his brother locked up for years, he gave him a quirk, as a gift. It was a weak, simple quirk that allowed the user to stockpile power gradually over time. 

“But as coincidence would have it, All for One’s brother had a quirk all along. It was a useless quirk by itself, the only thing it could do was it allowed the user to pass their quirk on to others. But the now two quirks within him fused, and became One for All. Time and time again, One for All users have challenged All for One, but they haven’t succeeded, until I did.

“Or at least I thought, until information came up. So that is the purpose of the people using One for All, to defeat All for One.” All Might concluded.

So the villain unintentionally created the quirk that would end up defeating him. How poetic. “So you fought All for One six years ago, and thought he was dead. But if he’s alive, you’d have to fight him again. Can you do it? You told me you were weaker than you were in your prime.” He asked. He had seen nearly every “fight” that All Might had. Calling them fights were generous, All Might usually finished his fights in under a minute, with less than five punches. So a villain out there that could match All Might was terrifying to think about.

“All for One was weakened also. I wouldn’t be surprised if he needs life support.” All M- Yagi said. “According to what Nezu said, it should be an even fight, if All for One is still around.”

“I mean, I appreciate this information and all.” He said. “But, there’s something else you guys want, am I correct Principal Nezu?”

“An astute observation, Midoriya.” Principal Nezu said. “And there is something that we need your help with. T’s career used to be based on hunting down All for One’s organizations. But because T is now devoted to hunting down Kira, and as I need to spend most of my time making sure that UA is running, I need other people to finish the job. Thankfully, T has removed almost all the organizations All for One is responsible for, and there’s only a few left, but we would like your assistance in hunting down the remainder of All for One’s organizations. Now you wouldn’t be doing physical work, you’d simply be doing detective and analysis work. Do you accept?” The principal asked.

“Of course.” He replied, a sneaking suspicion that this was what a deal with the devil felt like. “So what information do you have for me?”

The UA principal handed him a manila file folder. “This is all the information that I know about the organization. I don’t think I need to tell you that this should be kept secret. As a cover, you may inform your class that I wanted to congratulate you for a high score on the recommendation exam.”

“But what about Yaoyorozu? She also had a high score on the recommendation exam. How is that going to work?” He asked.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll bring her down later for that purpose. You are free to leave, Midoriya.” Principal Nezu replied, as if he’d thought about this ahead of time.

“Thank you, principal Nezu.” He bowed as he left the principal’s office. It was still Ectoplasm’s class, so he made his way back.

“Why were you called to the principal’s office?” He heard Kaminari ask.

“Oh, the principal just wanted to congratulate me for getting a good score on the recommendation exam.” The excuse given to him by the UA principal rolled easily off of his tongue.

“What does that mean?”

“Why would the principal congratulate you personally?”

“Alright.” Ectoplasm said. “Stop bothering Midoriya, we need to continue our lesson on higher-degree polynomials.”

Turns out the entirety of their classes were taught by pro heroes. Snipe taught history, and Midnight taught something called Hero Art History, and Cementoss taught literature.

And then they were at the point where they were going to do foundational hero studies, taught by All Might.

Currently they were sitting in their main classroom, waiting for All Might to come.

“What do you think that All Might would be like as a teacher?” Sero asked from beside him.

“I’m not sure. I mean he’s a great hero, but this is his first year as a teacher. We’ll have to see what he does.” He replied. He had experienced All Might as a teacher during his training using One for All. And to be honest, All Might wasn’t the greatest teacher. It had taken him breaking his arm twice before Gran Torino stepped in to teach him how to use the power he held.

“Well, I think All Might’s going to be a great teacher, he seems like the type.” Sero replied. “But hey, you never know. Maybe he’s great.”

 **“I am here entering through the door like a normal person!”** All Might yelled out, while not entering through the door like a normal person. **“Anyway, it’s time for our first lesson on heroics! Battle training!”** All Might yelled out, holding out a card that read “Battle” on it in bold, blocked lettering.

 **“But first, it’s time for you to get your hero costumes!”** All Might added, grabbing a remote out from his hero costume. Where he got it from, Izuku had no idea. But All Might pressed the remote, and compartments along the wall opened, revealing spaces for their hero costumes, nineteen plain metal suitcases labelled with yellow numbers. Mineta’s suitcase had already been removed, leaving only an empty recess where his costume case belonged. He had to respect Mineta for making a difficult choice, to acknowledge that he wasn’t cut out for the dangerous works of heroes. From what he had heard, Mineta was transferring to Kiteyma High School, a pretty decent private high school. He had actually been planning on going there if he didn’t pass the exam.

**“Change into your hero costume and meet me at Training Ground Beta!”**

He grabbed his suitcase and went down to the changing rooms. His hero costume was proof, undeniable proof that he had _done_ it. He had really done it.

Todoroki went off into the bathrooms to change, just like he had done the day before. It was unusual, but maybe he was self-conscious about his body. Half of him wanted to change there as well, but that might be unusual. So he ended up changing in the main locker room, taking out and putting on the bits and pieces of his costume. Near the end, he grabbed a piece of the Death Note he kept with him at all times, and slid it into one of the many pockets in his costume, followed by a small pen. This way, even when he didn’t have acess to the full Death Note, he could still right the name of a sufficiently deadly villain if he needed to.

He pulled on the domino mask that completed his costume, and walked out of the locker room. He didn’t pay much attention to his classmates when he had been changing, but now that they were walking together, he could see the various costumes. Todoroki’s costume had ice covering about half of the costume (The side that didn’t generate ice from what he remembers), and there’s a red glowing eye-thing in the middle of the ice that covers Todoroki’s face. The rest of his costume had an off-white, sort of cream, color with what looked like a heater on the back. Interesting.

Of course there were other costume designs, like Kirishima’s shirtless costume, Ojiro’s simple garb, Iida wearing what looked like an Ingenium-themed costume, armor included. Impractical, but whatever. And Bakugo, of course, had this whole explosive theme going on. He had seen Bakugo’s costume designs earlier, and it looked like he didn’t change that much. Large grenade gauntlets, an orange and black theme all around, and it even included the knee pads that Bakugo had said. “For kneeing people in the fucking face.”

“Hey Midoriya, your costume looks pretty cool!”

He turned around to see Uraraka, dressed in a pink and black costume that clung to her body, except for large bracelets, boots, and a helmet. “I’m not so sure about my own costume though, It’s a bit tight…” She trailed off, looking at the various parts of her costume.

“I… I think it looks great.” He replied, face heating up a bit. “It definitely stands out more than mine does.”

His own costume was quite different. He had taken a more practical approach to his costume, with a darker green-blue color, with asymmetrical black stripes running along it. This was the jacket with a hood, which was made out of a thin material that was resistant to extreme temperatures. Beneath that was a black form-fitting tank top, just as another layer.

His pants were made out of a similar material, with a similar asymmetric black and dark blue-green design. Black knee and elbow braces, as well as reinforced gauntlets and boots and a utility belt completed the design.

And yes, his costume did have a recreation of All Might’s hairstyle on the hood. Why? Because why not? It looks cool and he likes how it looks.

When he and everyone else walked out into the light of Training Ground Beta, he saw All Might standing here.

 **“One of the key elements of being a hero is the costume! Looks do indeed matter to be a hero, and you all are most certainly looking the part!”** All Might exclaimed upon seeing them. Izuku noticed that All Might looked over at the additions he had made to the hood of his costume a second longer than normal, and barely restraining a chuckle. It had been a last-second addition, but it certainly offset the darker colors he used in his hero costume.

 **“Welcome to Battle Training!”** All Might announced.

“Sensei!” Iida called out. “This looks like the place where we did the entrance exam! Are we going to be fighting outdoors like we did before?”

**“No! Today we are going to be doing indoor fights, where the most dangerous villainous acts go down. Secret Deals, villainous meetings, all of these things happen in the shadows.”**

“Are you going to threaten to expell people like Aizawa-sensei did?”

“How are you going to score this task?”

“When can I beat people up?”

“Doesn’t this cape make me look fabulous?”

 **“Everyone, please calm down, my quirk isn’t super hearing!”** All Might exclaimed, and then pulled out a piece of paper. **“Alright, so the scenario that we are running is that the villains have a nuclear weapon stored in their hidden base, and the heroes have fifteen minutes to retrieve the device or capture the villains, and the villains can either defend the bomb or capture the heroes in that time.”**

“How will the teams be decided?” Iida asked after All Might had paused for a moment.

 **“By random draw, young Iida!”** Was All Might’s response.

“Are you sure that’s the right choice to make?” Iida asked.

“Think about it, Iida. Heroes often have to team up with people they don’t exactly know, and then team up to do something on the fly. So this makes the most sense.”

“Ah.” Iida replied. “Thank you Midoriya, that really makes sense.”

 **“Anyway, it’s time for you all to draw to find out who your teammates are!”** All Might exclaimed as he presented the class with two boxes. Midoriya was closer to the front, so he was one of the first people that grabbed a ball with his letter on it. It was a grey ball with the letter “A” written on it in yellow. He looked around to see who he had matched with. The first person he had tried to match with was Hagakure, who had the letter “E”, then he found his match. Uraraka also had the letter “A”

“Great! We’re a team!” Uraraka exclaimed.

“Yeah, this is going to be great.” He replied.

“Sensei! There are only nineteen people in the class! How are you planning on correcting this oversight?” Iida asked, and damn he did make a good point. He should be more observant in the future.

 **“Not to worry, young Iida, one person will simply have to go twice! Young Midoriya, you wouldn’t mind having to go twice, wouldn’t you?”** All Might asked.

“I wouldn’t.” He replied.

**“Excellent! You will be on team I with Yaoyorozu, Unless there’s a conflict of the matchup! Alright, let’s draw the teams for the heroes and villains. On the hero team…”**

All Might drew the “A” ball. **“Uraraka and Midoriya! And on the villain team…”** All Might drew the “D” ball. **“Iida and Bakugo!”**

Izuku turned around to see that Bakugo was looking at him with a maliciaous glee. **“The villains will have five minutes to prepare! Get going! Heroes, use this time to prepare a strategy!”** All Might announced.

Oh boy, this is going to be a challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to do try to make longer chapters, for your enjoyment :)
> 
> Next Chapter: Nemesis


	23. Nemesis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who want to know who T is, all I have to say to you is:  
> All will become clear in time.

“Midoriya, what sort of strategy are we going for?” Uraraka asked him. Right, they only had five minutes to come up with a strategy.

“Bakugo is most certainly going to be going after me, so that means you have an opportunity to go after Iida by yourself. Make sure you grab some things in the rooms and halls before you get to the weapon room. Iida is smart, so I’m going to bet that he’s planned for the effects of your quirk.” He explained. “I’m not really the type to have more specific strategies.”

“Do you really think you can handle Bakugo by yourself?” Uraraka asked.

“I think so. But I can handle him enough that I should buy you enough time to secure the weapon.” He said, more confident than he felt. If he was going to tell the truth, there was a knot in his gut about the upcoming fight. He had changed so much in the past year or so, but was it really enough? He could only use One for All at nine percent at this point. That should be enough.

“Ok, let’s do this then.” She said, and Izuku saw determination in her eyes. Huh, he had been questioning it at first, but maybe she really did deserve to be a hero.

 **“Alright, the five minutes of planning time is up.”** All Might announced. **“Heroes, enter the building!”**

He took a deep breath in and out. “Alright let’s do this.”

He and Uraraka separated at the door, she had an idea of where to go so she went up the first staircase. He wanted to make sure that he was as far away from Uraraka as possible in order to give her as much time as needed. Could she successfully fight Iida? Probably, he trusted her skills with her quirk to face off against Iida.

Which left him to find Bakugo. He walked down the corridors, making sure to be quiet. Of course, Bakugo had no such qualms about being quiet, so that meant that he could track Bakugo easily. In the span of about a minute he finally did run into Bakugo.

“What the fuck are you doing, Deku? How did you get that damn recommendation?” Bakugo demanded, standing at the other side of the hallway they were in.

“I told you already Bakugo, I got a recommendation from Kamui Woods and I passed the recommendation exam with flying colors.”

Bakugo then responded by charging forward, explosions ready on his palms. And there it goes, he always starts with a right hook.

So he does the only thing he could do, he charged up One for All to around eight percent, something he could hold during a battle for sure, and grabbed Bakugo’s outstretched hand, and flipped the explosive teen over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground with the power of One for All.

This was something that he could really do without a quirk. Did he really need to accept the power of One for All? No, Izuku, don’t concern yourself with the morality of accepting the quirk or not, you need to fight Bakugo now, and a single slam into the ground is not enough to take him down.

And he was proven right by the explosions that sounded behind him, he turned around to see that Bakugo was readying an explosion his way. But as fast as Bakugo was, Gran Torino was faster, and he had fought the elderly hero to a standstill. He dodged around Bakugo lunging at him, and slammed him in the back.

“Where the hell did you get your quirk from, Deku?” Bakugo demanded as he got back up.

“Why should you care?” He yelled out, running down one of the corridors with the strength of One for All, Bakugo following him.

“Get back here Deku!” He heard Bakugo yell. He grabbed the capture tape that All Might had given him. It was strong, well-designed, and was purposed for restraining. So how does he restrain Bakugo? Palms together, so he couldn’t use his quirk, then restrain his arms to his sides. And then at that point he could go out and help Uraraka with taking down Iida.

* * *

The plan that she and Midoriya had worked out made sense. She didn’t know exactly what, but Bakugo and Midoriya had some sort of history. So she’d leave them to go through that and try to find Iida. It was surprisingly easy, because Iida wasn’t trying to hide himself.

She had tapped her costume with her quirk, just to make everything lighter, and coincidentally it made her much more silent, so she’s able to sneak up on Iida without him hearing. 

“I need to do this exercise to the best of my ability. I… am… evil!” And then Iida gave a villainous laugh that was so cheesy and over the top she had to hold her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. This was so silly! 

“Come at me heroes! I will show you what it means to be a villain!” Iida called out again, alongside another one of his villainous laughs. “Heroes! I have procured a superweapon with which I can destroy the entire city! You only have nine more minutes and after that you’ll never see the weapon again!”

Seriously Iida? Well whatever, it’s time for her to intervene. She grabbed the first object, a piece of rock that was in one of the rooms on the way, removed it’s gravity and jumped into the room. Iida was standing there, facing her. “Ah, so the heroes have arrived. Well you’re not going to go far!” Iida gestured around and she saw that the room had been entirely cleaned out.

“And look! I observed you using your quirk before and there’s nothing for you to use your quirk on in this room! What is your move now, hero?” Iida added.

“This.” She said, throwing the stone she held into Iida’s helmet. She’d been told her quirk was more complicated than just removing gravity apparently. All she knew was that if she threw something, it would pretty much go in a straight line. So the stone made a very audible thunk.

She ran for the bomb, but was stopped by Iida. “Do you really think your pitiful attack would do anything against me?” He said, brandishing his capture tape. She had to dodge around Iida’s attacks and she was being pushed back. At least she wasn’t getting captured, but she really was only defending herself.

C’mon Midoriya, where are you?

* * *

He ran out from the place where he had been hiding, and within seconds he found Bakugo, who turned around to face him.

“These gauntlets aren’t just for decoration, ya know? They’ve been storing my sweat and all they need is an ignition to fire off!” Bakugo yelled, grabbing the pin. 

All Might must've given a message to Bakugo, because Bakugo glanced over at his earpiece and then looked back at him. “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine if he dodges.” Bakugo said, grabbing the pin.

Oh, this is something new. He only had a second to react, so he jumped up as Bakugo pulled the pin so he could avoid the explosion. It mostly worked, he felt the heat and force of the explosion, pushing it forward and making his landing more difficult. But he ended up behind Bakugo, so he twisted around, grabbing his capture tape and extending out a length of it. Alright, his next moves needed to be carefully planned.

He reached out and just barely managed to stick a piece of the capture tape on Bakugo’s back before he turned around and aimed an explosion at his face. Well it was aimed at his face but he managed to dodge away and it hit his arm, which was covered in the heat-resistant jacket. Well, it wasn’t heat-resistant enough, as the material was blackened and burned away. But at least his arm was intact.

But the advantage was his, the capture tape was wrapped around the back of Bakugo and they were now facing each other. So he jumped around Bakugo, wrapping the capture tape around him several times, eventually getting to the point that the explosive teen couldn’t move his arms.

At that point he activated his earpiece to contact Uraraka. “I took down Bakugo, do you need some help?” He asked.

 _“Yeah, I could use your help.”_ She said from wherever she was, alongside the sound of crashing. Damn, she really did need help.

“Ok I’ll be there.” He turned around after hearing a yell and an explosion, to see that Bakugo was struggling against the capture tape. He was doing a pretty good job of it, but it would take him a while to break free.

Well, at least the capture tape would buy him enough time to help Uraraka. She told him the location when he was on the way up there. He had been keeping track of the time, and there wasn’t too much time left, so he needed to go out and fight Iida quickly and effectively. By the time he got to the room where Iida and Uraraka were fighting, there were only minutes left.

The room was pristine, even the objects that Uraraka had brought with her had been gone. Likely out of the window, because the glass of the window was broken. Well now there were two “heroes” and only one “villain”.

“Even when there’s two heroes, you will never win!” Iida announced as he ran in the room. “For I am the villain that will defeat you!”

He had to put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. This was what Iida thought a villain was like? Izuku had seen what real villains were like. They weren’t dramatic like this.

“Then prove it, villain. Show me your true strength.” He said in turn, the electricity of One for All sparkling around him.

“Uraraka, go for the weapon, I’ll engage Iida.” He said into the earpiece quiet enough that he hoped Iida didn’t overhear it, and then he charged forward at Iida. Why was Iida wearing a suit of armor? Eh, whatever floats your boat I guess. Armor didn’t suit him, but whatever.

He mainly focused on dodging and deflecting Iida, keeping him as far away from Uraraka as she sprinted to the bomb and then…

 **“Hero team wins by securing the bomb!”** The voice of All Might announced through his earpiece.

Well then, that’s the wrap. Of course he still has another match to fight, but he should be fine with it.

**“Alright, who is the MVP of the match?”** All Might announced after the four of them had got back into the observation room, and then found another building for their class because apparently the building had gotten destroyed too much for it to be safe. Whoops.

Yaoyorozu stepped out from the rest of the class and raised her hand. “Would you mind if I?”

**“Go ahead.”**

“I think the MVP of the match was Midoriya. He’s the one that formulated the plan that made him win, as well as the one who took down both of the villains. All in all, I think that this was a competent execution from Midoriya.” She explained.

 **“Yes… I couldn’t have said it better myself.”** All Might said. **“Anyway! Now let’s move on to the next exercise.”**

After spending about eleven months around All Might, he could tell that this was All Might for “you said it better than I could so I’m just going to move on.” 

Well now he gets the chance to observe his classmates using their quirks in combat. The next match was Tokoyami and Asui as the heroes, and Kirishima and Sero as the villains. During their five minutes of prep time, Kirishima and Sero set up tape traps using Sero’s tape. A defensive strategy, it seemed.

But their defensive strategy didn’t work well. Asui, as it turns out, was a pretty decent all-around fighter, fast, agile, yet she had a frog like tongue that was pretty strong. He couldn’t really see any obvious weaknesses at this point. And Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow only bolstered this effect. A shadow demon erupted from him.

“Don’t worry Izuku, that’s not a Shinigami. Although I’m not exactly sure what it is. Although I do know it likes apples as well, so we’re going to have to talk about this sometime.” Ryuk said.

“How do you know Dark Shadow likes apples?” He whispered under his breath. Everyone was watching as Dark Shadow restrained both Kirishima and Sero as Asui secured the weapon.

“I saw it eating apples when I went downstairs to watch TV. Dark Shadow was eating an apple while Tokoyami was watching the TV. And then it looked in my direction, and I had the faintest suspicion that Dark Shadow could see, or at least perceive me.”

“We’ll talk about this later.”

The next match was Todoroki and Shoji vs Ojiro and Hagakure. Hagakure was guarding the bomb, and Ojiro was going out to fight the two.

However, Izuku knew this was not going to be a match after all. He had seen Todoroki during the recommendation exam, where he had been just slightly slower than Todoroki. But he had the feeling that speed wasn’t really what Todoroki had fully focused on. Maybe not even the quirk assessment test, which was more skill-based.

So combat was probably where Todoroki excelled.

Fifteen seconds later, his theory was proven by the fact that Todoroki surrounded the entire building in ice, walking through the building, securing the weapon, and then ten seconds later he melted it.

This was a lot of control for someone of his age. Well, it made sense after all, Todoroki would’ve been trained by his father most likely, and had access to all sorts of quirk training. This was the gap that he would have to overcome to become the number one hero.

“Woah! That’s super manly!” Kirishima yelled out.

“That’s insane!” Ashido yelled out.

The next match wasn’t too impressive, although it was the first villain victory. Ashido and Sato managed to defeat Koda and Aoyama. Aoyama, of course, complained about Ashido’s acid melting his cape.

But he wasn’t really focusing on that match, more thinking about his next match. Yaoyorozu was powerful, for sure, but he was still nervous.

 **“And Yaoyorozu and Midoriya are the villains!”** All Might announced. As much as it was a seemingly innocent phrase, disconnected from context, it was still nerve-wracking to be called a villain. People might call him a villain, but he was a hero. He wasn’t a hero like All Might under his Kira persona, of course, he could never be a hero like All Might using the Death Note, but at least he could be a hero like Yanluo Wang.

“So Midoriya, what sort of strategy did you want to go with? I wanted to bunker down, what do you think?” Yaoyorozu asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, sure, that seems great. Neither Kaminari or Jiro really have strength enhancement quirks, so I think that bunkering down will work well.”

So Yaoyorozu made steel plates to block off the door, and then made the two of them non-metallic staves for use if need be.

Turns out the need never came, because Kaminari and Jiro couldn’t get through the barrier. That’s anticlimactic, but of course not every fight could be climatic or even cool. That sort of stuff only happens in low-quality novels.

And then the class was over, which was a good thing, because he has this case from Principal Nezu to work on. If All for One was still around, he needed to take down as many of his organizations as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Oblique


	24. Oblique

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo I watched some of Code Geass, and I had to stop because the people looked so goofy. Like, why are they so fuckin' thin they look weird. I could soldier through that but then the story got boring so I quit.  
> This chapter is to make me feel better :)

Midoriya looked at the sum total of the information in the file. It wasn’t much. They operated somewhere on Hokkaido, underneath a leader known as Ten. (And from what he could tell, all of the people in this organization have been given numerical codenames, such as Twelve, Forty, or Sixty-seven.) The current theory was that they skipped numbers to make their organization seem larger than it really was. Because if these numbers were real, they’ll be over a hundred members, and hiding an organization that large is difficult. Surprisingly enough, if there was a larger organization, it could be based around an insular community.

By looking at the reports of crimes they’re linked to, primarily murders, he can make a guess as to what their numbers are. Sixteen murders in the past year, all on pro heroes… 

He needed the coroner’s reports on the deaths of these heroes.Thankfully, one of the benefits of this society that equates heroes with celebrities is knowing everything that happens to them. Which reminds him of Captain Celebrity. Despite being ranked Number One in at least eleven states, he’s been tempted to write Captain Celebrity’s name several times. However, as a high-ranking hero, he has saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives. It’s been tearing him apart for weeks now. Sure the hero’s had some lawsuits against him for excessive damage, apparent harassment, and just being the poster boy for the society of fake heroes.

But he’s followed the Super Hero’s (yes that’s his real hero title) career, and sure sometimes (most of the time) he does things for the cameras, but he’s saved so many lives. The heroes that he had taken out with the Death Note were pretty minor, often their criminal acts outweighed their heroic acts by a fair margian.

The case forgotten about, he pulled out his burner phone and sent a message to Stain.

 **Shea [17:37] :** Should I eliminate fake heroes in the higher ranks?

It took only a few minutes until Stain wrote a response, surprisingly. He’d have thought that Stain would be out killing fakes. Ever since the video that the Machine Hero recorded was spread around the internet, Stain had accelerated his attacks, bringing his death toll to 39, and he had additionally took 54 heroes permanently out of hero work. That was a lot, which explained why Stain was classified as an S-class villain.

 **Bleach [17:44]:** I'd be careful, but go for it.

Sure that's what Stain would say, but he didn't know if he could...

Focus, Izuku, focus, you have a case to solve.

Each and every one if the heroes that had been killed were killed in very different ways. He looked at the reports, trying to look to see if some of these injuries could be caused by the same quirk.

Ah ha! S-train and Warrior! S-train died because of massive internal scarring and blackened lungs, and Warrior had died because of burns. This must be because of the same fire quirk, and it must be a pretty powerful one.

Quirk registries were supposed to be private, but the sites that held them were ancient, and the passwords to these sites could easily be found on… certain websites. They hadn’t been changed in decades.

He narrowed the search results for people who lived on Hokkaido and for a decently powerful fire quirk that could create fire at a distance. While that was running on his computer, he pulled up his laptop and looked at the rest of the heroes that had died, eventually sorting it out until he had something that looked pretty decent:

S-train, Warrior, Bongo: ranged fire quirk.

Orion of three Rivers, Haqor Knight, Vigilant: Vibration/resonance quirk.

Magnificent Mazdi, Zomar the Stupendous, Szechzhin, Tic-tac Tillitac: Reflection quirk

Raptor Haze, Armathyst: Plant and fungus growth quirk.

Falczon: Earth quirk

Corundum Mist, Spellcaster Mage Ultimus, Vagamagma: Unknown.

By the time he got to the point where he had sorted each of the quirks (there’s still three that he _feels_ like belong somewhere, but he’ll sort them later.

The reflection quirk had been an epiphany for him, after seeing the fact that Magnificent Mazdi had purple injuries from his “Magnificent Laser”, Zomar the Stupendous’ quirk made him produce fancy arrows that were found in his body, Szechzhin was dead of massive blood loss, when their quirk made the people that attacked them bleed. Tic-tac Tillitac was found with broken bones, and his own quirk meant he could weaken bones by touch. So it was either a reflective or copying quirk.

His computer pinged at that point. Ah, he had found a match on the quirk registry for the fire quirk. Kanteyama Tsukiota: Quirk: Distant Fire, which allows the user to create and manipulate flame, even create flames at range.

He looked at the information available for the seven villains in this organization. Twenty-seven, height: 168-177 cm weight: 84-95 kg. Eye color: orange. Hair color: dark red.

And he compared that information to Kanteyama Tsukiota. Height: 174cm. A bit higher than the average, but well within the range of accepted values. weight: 83 kg. Lower than the numbers provided, but those numbers are often estimated. Maybe this guy was wearing layers of clothing or something. Eye color and hair color match up.

The first thought that popped into his mind was using the Death Note. But if Kira started killing criminals that Midoriya Izuku was investigating, that would be super suspicious. But there were other criminals on Hokkaido for sure. Maybe he could pull it off as starting to focus on certain regions?

Alright, from now on, he can only kill criminals and fake heroes in Japan. Let’s see what T thinks of _that_.

Maybe give that a week, and then next weekend he’ll take a trip up to Hanrun Kal and have a _meeting_ with Kanteyama Tsukiota. But in the meantime, he should see what he can dig up on the other villains in this group.

A knock on his door caused him to jolt upright. Thank goodness he locked his door otherwise it might have been worse. “What is it?” He asked.

“It’s Uraraka. I want to ask you something.” A voice came from the other side of the door.

“Alright, give me a minute.” He responded back, gathering the filed evidence together, sliding it into a drawer, stowing away his laptop, and switching windows on his computer to an English assignment that Present Mic had assigned already. For such a chill guy, Present Mic was a pretty strict teacher.

After all the evidence of his personal investigation had been hidden, he unlocked and opened his door. “What is it Uraraka?” He asked, gesturing towards an extra chair in his room, which she sat down in. He made sure to keep the door open, just in case.

“I just need someone to talk to, and you feel like someone who I should talk with.” She explained.

“Ok, Uh… what did you want to talk about Uraraka? Is something on your mind?” He asked, feeling a bit concerned. Was she homesick? Did she feel lonely, or nervous, or anxious. Hell, he felt nervous and anxious through most of the day, he had just gotten better at hiding it.

“Well, it’s just that I’m not used to living with so many people in the same building. It makes me feel exposed, vulnerable, and like I have no privacy, you know?”

And this made him think. Did he feel exposed, like he had no privacy? He would be lying if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. But how to assure someone?

“If I’m going to be honest, I think everyone else is feeling the same way. We’re practically strangers living together, it’s going to be an adjustment getting used to everything. But you do have a lock on your dorm room, and the bathrooms are separated by gender, so you have that going for you.” He said.

“Thanks, Midoriya!” She replied as she left.

* * *

All the information was in place, and they had a group prepared. He had even convinced All for One to have Crafter brought along, saying that their quirk might be useful for a jailbreak. Crafter was going to be working with the teen who he had been contacting, a third-year high school student by the name of Ikadzuki Yatashi. One of the conditions of giving the information was that the kid had to attend. It was annoying, but the kid did have a useful quirk. Basic fire quirks were pretty common, but the Ikadzuki brother’s fire quirks made their fire far brighter than normal.

So of course his purpose was going to be to send out a flare. And then him and Dabi would break in and rescue Ikadzuki Taiyo. This wasn’t really a plan, but no plan survives contact with the enemy, so it doesn’t matter anyways.

A blast of bright white flame went up into the air, lighting up the dark night to the point where it almost looked like daytime. That was their signal to head over to the jail cell 1-0034 where Ikadzuki Taiyo was imprisoned. It was on the first floor thankfully, so the breakout would be easy. “Alright Dabi, let’s go and rescue this guy.”

“Not to question you, Spinner, but why are you rescuing this guy? He’s just a single person, you can find other people that want to follow the will of Stain.” Dabi said.

“You can find ten thousand people that want to follow the will of Stain, but this guy has the skill to actually pursue his goals. He managed to kill a pro hero, Dabi, that’s not a small feat.”

It looked like Dabi wanted to add more, but they had already reached the jail cell where Ikadzuki Taiyo was contained. Dabi melted the wall down with bursts of fire, and then they saw their prisoner run out, and then almost immediately bow to the ground.

“Dabi, Spinner, vanguards of Stain’s will, what are you doing here?”

“Your younger brother wanted to free you, so he made it happen.” He said.

“Of course he did. We need to leave as soon as possible. Did you keep him out of combat at least?”

“I sent him with Crafter, a teammate of mine that excels at deactivating security systems, so he’s as safe as possible because he demanded to be here.”

“Well let’s get out of here.” the older Ikadzuki brother said, launching his own flare up into the sky. The signal for them to retreat and return to the meeting point. This was a quick in and out operation.

* * *

 _“Ikadzuki Taiyo is currently in jail awaiting sentencing for the murder of a pro hero.”_ The news report said.

She couldn’t believe it. Her younger brother, a killer? He didn’t have a bad bone in his body. But maybe that was a sign she should come back to Japan. Zapadoslavia was nice, sure, but even though the nexus of Stain’s and Kira’s killings started in Japan, and the two were Japanese, she had seen how attractive the masses saw the two. Hell, she had just sawn on the news of an attempted coup by some general in the Britannic Empire who said it was Kira’s will (but if she was honest, he was probably looking for any sort of excuse to stage a coup).

And maybe she could help T with catching Kira. They had worked together before.

“Lost in thought again, Miyami?” She looked up to see her wife having entered. Huh, when had she walked in.

“I was just thinking about catching Kira. His name’s been on everyone’s minds lately, and I think I may have a lead.” She replied, closing her laptop. “I don’t know if I should go back to Japan or not, I don’t even know if T remembers me.”

She felt something warm across her body. She looked up to see that Amity was hugging her. “T definitely remembers you. You were the best on that one case in New Argos, remember.” She said.

“But you’ve lived in Zapadoslavia you’re entire life, are you really prepared to just up and move to Japan so quickly? I don’t want to put you through the pressure of moving.” She replied, looking into her wife’s eyes.

“Miyami, if you think you can solve the Kira case, then I’m on your side one hundred percent. Now let’s get travel preparations started."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any recommendations for anime to watch (as well as where to find it) please comment. Or any show in general tbh. I need something new in the quarantine times.  
> Also leave a comment when it comes to how you feel about the story.
> 
> Next Chaper: Wonder


	25. Withheld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night brings tales alongside it, and the pawns and rooks are making moves on their own, let's see what the board looks like in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I don't see in these types of stories is changes to the world map. It's been ~200 years, of course the world map would change! C'mon writers, have some fun with the world! Be creative! Explore ideas you have!
> 
> And thanks to everyone that had show recommendations, It definitely did help!

People don’t believe that spirits exist.

It’s a normal belief, to be sure, the occult had been at the corners of people’s minds ever since quirks became the driving force in everyone’s lives.

But he always knew that spirits were real, ever since he saw his father’s quirk, Red Shade, come out of him to play with him, and he felt something separate from his father, something different. He later learned he had gotten a mix of both of his parent’s quirks, the bird mutation, spirit sense, and his quirk being dependent on light levels from his mother, and the base quirk from his father. He remembered the first time Dark Shadow and Red Shade met. Dark Shadow had always been temperamental for him, but Red Shade also seemed to act like a father figure to Dark Shadow.

He also remembered the first time Dark Shadow managed to defeat Red Shade in a duel, first at night and then at daytime. He had felt the elation from Dark Shadow’s end. It had been his father that said he could become a hero.

And here he was, sitting in a dorm room at UA, the best hero course in Japan. Surrounded by crazy people. He hadn’t expected to detect spirits around any of his classmates, but he had sensed a spirit around Midoriya. It could be anything, but it certainly meant that they were heading for interesting times.

He hated having to lie to Midoriya, feign ignorance on how he sensed spirits, but who would believe him otherwise?

He booted up his computer to see he had gotten an email from his only great-grandmother on his mother’s side. He hadn’t seen her since the last annual family reunion seven months ago, or heard from her. That wasn’t a failing on either of their parts, they just weren’t that close.

_“Dear Fumikage:_

_I just wanted to say that I finally got the news you were accepted into UA. And scoring fourth overall! Very impressive. I just wanted to tell you that I’m still alive and kicking, and continuing my work. Just yesterday I helped a young man rationalize the death of his wife in the New Chinese Civil War by having them talk for the last time. I may not be a hero like you will become, but I definitely think I save people by giving them closure, which is something people need._

_I’m finally glad that you’re going to be a hero, you’re the first one in the family! Please stay safe my little fledgeling. I’m sending you a gift for getting into UA, it’s your favorite apple pie, I know how much you like apples, and it’s the family recipe, so I hope you enjoy it Fumi. Anyway, I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend the family reunion, I’ll make sure to keep your mother updated._

_Best Regards:_

_Nana”_

He couldn’t help but salivate at the mention of the apple pie. He loved her apple pie, it was the perfect mix of apples, sugar, and spice, not too sweet but not too tart. He had lost count of the times he had to ask Dark Shadow to physically restrain himself from tasting heaven in a pie. So what he was probably going to do is take a piece and then share the rest.

Dark shadow popped up. **‘What are you thinking about Fumikage?’** Dark Shadow “asked”. It wasn’t really asking, as Dark Shadow was using the mental connection they shared.

‘UA certainly is an interesting place. I mean, I’ve never seen so many heroes in my life. Tsukuba is a pretty quiet town relative to other areas.’

**‘That’s a good thing Fumikage, villains are dangerous.’**

‘I guess. Thanks for that Dark Shadow.’

* * *

Midoriya Izuku was staring at his food.

He knew he was hungry, he had had a long day, but he was just lost in thought. His life was far more complicated than he had ever anticipated, and that meant that he needed to do things carefully.

He opened up a picture on his phone, a picture the hero support company that designed his costume had sent him, so that he could get a good look at it when he was wearing it. From what he heard, the model could temporarily shapeshift into someone as long as they consume someone’s DNA. So he had sent a small sample of hair and skin over, and in return he could get a good look at what the costume looked like on him.

The asymmetrical look definitely looked good on him. It made him distinctive, unique, something to separate him from everyone else’s symmetrical costumes. Well everyone except Todoroki, who sheathed half of his body in ice. Weird, but whatever. The colors were a bit lighter than he had wanted, the greens and blues a bit more bright, but it certainly did look good. The black was just the same, meaning that there was now a greater contrast. The patterns crossed and weaved across the costume, making for something that he would grow into.

Of course, just because something was good did not mean it couldn’t be improved. He wanted to lean into the asymmetry more. Maybe a detachable cape, shifted so it covered his left side more? Costumes were supposed to aid the hero to do their job to the fullest.

“You look lost in thought, Midoriya.” Someone said.

He looked up to see Asu- Tsuyu, looking at him. “Is something on your mind? Kero.”

“Well, yeah.” He showed her the picture on his phone, of his hero costume. “I was just thinking about how to improve it. There are plenty of factors that go into a hero costume Asu- Tsuyu, and now that I got my costume, I’m thinking about improvements to it.”

She took a closer look at the picture on his phone, looked over it closely, and then handed it back to him. “Did you want some advice on what to do? Kero.” She asked.

He nodded almost immediately. He had a tendency to overthink things, and from what he could tell from Asui already, she wasn’t the type of person to sugarcoat things, or be reticent from speaking out because it might make someone feel temporarily sad, rather than having it fester down the line.

“My aunt and cousin are fashion designers, I actually asked them for some help on my costume. Did you want me to send it to them so they can have a look at it if you want. Kero.”

“Thank you, but I’d rather not share it. I’d like to hear some of your opinions.” He replied.

“Well, to be blunt, this sort of looks like a villain costume.” She said. “You may want to make the colors a bit brighter. Kero.”

He wanted to make a comment about Bakugo or Tokoyami’s costumes, but he resisted. This is not the time for that.

Instead, he just rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess. I mean, my original drawings had it even darker green and blue, and the black patterns larger, but I’ll think about it. Thanks for your opinion, Tsuyu!”

“No problem Midoriya. Kero. I mean, imagining your costume and actually wearing it are pretty different.” She said, going to the fridge to get something.

Reassured, he finally started eating. Getting to watch the chaos of people trying to sort out who’s cooking what was definitely amusing. He would’ve made more food, but he was tired both physically and mentally, which was why he hated the fact he overthought everything. Maybe he should ask All Might… no All Might’s not really where the design of his costume is heading. Maybe he should ask Eraserhead. Eraserhead’s costume was built for functionality, so maybe that would be someone better to talk to.

That would be his plan for tomorrow, if he got some free time he could ask Eraserhead about costume design. It’s one of the most essential parts of being a hero, after all.

A crash came out of nowhere. He looked up from his meal to see that Kaminari and Ashido had teamed up to attempt to make dinner. Key word “attempt”. He didn’t hear what they were _intending_ to make, but what they were currently making was closer to charcoal than anything edible.

He sighed, and went back upstairs with his meal. There had been this one villain that had been in Musutafu for over a decade. The police called him the Musutafu Stalker. He didn’t feel like calling this villain a stalker was appropriate. They killed one hundred twenty-seven people over the past thirteen years, surely they didn’t stalk all of them.

This villain, whoever they are, is an extremely dangerous person and needed to be killed as soon as he could manage it, which meant he would need to find out the identity of this criminal.

But the fire alarms soon blared. Damn it Kaminari and Ashido. Someone needs to get them out of the kitchen.

He closed the files he found on the Musutafu Stalker case, and ran downstairs, past the smoking kitchen. No wait, that was definitely fire. How bad were they at cooking? When he finally went outside, he saw Bakugo yelling at Todoroki.

“Damn it Icyhot, I thought I told you to stay away from the kitchen when you didn’t know how to use the oven.”

Huh, out of everyone he didn’t expect Todoroki to burn the kitchen. 

After a couple of minutes, Eraserhead and Present Mic arrived on scene, the two of them holding fire extinguishers. There was some yelling, the sound of something spraying (most likely the fire extinguishers), more yelling, Present Mic yelling with his quirk that was abruptly cut off, and then the two of them walked out.

“Alright hellions, so the stove is not going to be usable for a day or two. Food will be sent in from Lunch Rush until the kitchen is fixed.” Eraserhead said.

“Gods these are problem children.” He heard Eraserhead whisper under his breath. He would protest against that, but it’s probably true.

* * *

He really was torn. He knew that loyalty to All for One was tantamount in his life, but he had been alone before meeting All for One. Isolated by his parents, forced to train by his uncle for a while, and had even helped in a jailbreak the night before entering UA.

But UA was different, he enjoyed his classes, his classmates were great, and he was actually enjoying his life for the first time in…

Maybe the first time ever. Maybe he can start planning an escape from All for One. He needed someone to trust, to help him in his escape. Well they were having a meeting with Stain’s group over the weekend, maybe he could talk to someone on their team. But who would it be? He wouldn’t go to Stain, Dabi, or Spinner, they seemed too close to the League. Toga was too crazy to trust…

That left him with Seishin. Seishin looked really young, but maybe he could rely on him to help him escape from All for One’s clutches.

That was the plan then. He just had to hope that Seishin would help him escape from the League’s clutches.

His door opened to reveal her. Dammit, this would complicate matters.

“Have you been thinking of betraying Him?” She asked him. Dammit again, she was always really good at guessing his feelings. Why did he have to be so expressive about this?

“No.” He lied. “Why, have you been thinking about that yourself?” He asked, trying to flip the question on her. Maybe that would work.

“I’ll admit that it has crossed my mind.” She said. “I’ll leave you here for now, but I warn you, the reach of All for One is vast, and he’s heavily implied that he has a third spy watching the both of us, so don’t do anything that All for One wouldn’t like, okay?” She said as she slinked away.

If that really was the case, he needed to be way more careful. Maybe he should wait more, reach out to other people. Maybe after a month or two, finding out if he could trust Eraserhead.

He closed and locked the door. He wanted to tear his hair out. If only he knew All for One’s real name, because if he had that, he could post All for One’s name and face on a Kira forum. He knew that Kira browsed the more popular forums. It felt like he was in a vice-grip. She would definitely tell All for One about the fact he may have second thoughts.

He sat down on his bed and then layed down. His life was so difficult right now. He definitely was thankful that his eyes had been opened to see there was more to life than serving All for One.

He had to escape from this. If he played his cards right, then none of the League could get to him. Not Shigaraki, and definitely not All for One.

A realization came to him suddenly. Kurogiri can teleport anywhere as long as he has the coordinates. This would be a problem. He could maybe discuss this with Seishin. It was making him nervous, he’s going to put his trust in some random person he doesn’t know at all. But he needs an ally as both Crafter and himself.

Hopefully he can come out of this alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure to leave a comment about whatever you like! I appreciate every comment!
> 
> Next Chapter: Thrill [This is going to be a wild one bois]


	26. Thrill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A caught hunter reveals a man who wants to show his god the path he lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: the beginning of this chapter's got some pretty graphic murder scenes. ctrl + f "Mikami" to skip it. It doesn't contribute too much to the story, so if you don't want to have murder described, you can skip it.

He saw a man jogging alone, running down the path.They didn’t look that strong, the perfect prey for tonight’s hunt. He felt the person enter his quirks range. He activated his quirk, meaning that the person couldn’t make a sound.

The hunt begins.

He slid out of the bush he had been hiding in just as the guy passed by. He started jogging at the same rate, and then sped up until he was right behind the man.

He reached around with his right hand and cupped the guy’s chin. He then stepped on the guy’s left knee, and then when the guy fell to his knees, he took the knife in his other hand and stabbed in between the clavicle and scapula, then wiggled the knife in the wound. This man would be dead in under twenty seconds.

What a shame, this was such a quick hunt. He left the knife in the man, a calling card as it were. The police had taken to calling him the “Musutafu Stalker.” He had been tempted to correct them. He doesn’t stalk his prey, so a more accurate title should be something like the “Musutafu Predator.”

Actually nope, nope, nopity nope. He had just realized there was a more… modern meaning to the word “Predator”, and that would imply a different set of crimes that he committed. He would accept being called the “Musutafu Stalker” if the alternative was being associated with the type of people that made him see red.

Calm down, mighty hunter, you need to continue your hunt. The tiger cares not for the opinions of mice. Let them call him whatever they wish (within reason), he’ll just continue his hunting.

Sure him going out and hunting was a major risk, hunting so close to such a massively deadly predator, but that only added to the thrill of the game. Moving without a wasted movement, or he’ll risk getting trapped. He needed another hunt, this one was over too quickly, he barely even got his heart rate up. He needed a hunt that was more fun, something that would actually test the skills he developed during his life, and him applying the normally peaceful skills to the hunt.

After about thirty minutes of walking around, making pretty much no sound because he was wearing his special soft sneakers, he found some guy robbing a store. He had tried robbery, but it just wasn’t _fun_ enough for him. It was too easy, and sure there was a small chance of getting caught, but there was little to no thrill. He saw the man and then activated his quirk, letting it spread over the man and the store. He then grabbed one of his knives and ran at the robber.

The robber responded by shooting a beam of energy that had no light. He jumped to the side, the beam missing him by centimeters. Oh this was the sort of fun he wanted. Instead of retreating like the criminal was expecting, he ran forward, dodging another dark blast by mere centimeters. His movements were the perfect movements of a graceful hunter, not a movement wasted.

The criminal fired three dark lasers at the same time, probably hoping that he’d be overwhelmed. But two decades of dance and gymnastics made his movements flow like water, the first beam was aimed at his head, so he ducked forward. The second beam was aimed at his legs, so he jumped over the beam rapidly. The third beam was aimed across his stomach, in order to dodge that he would need to move extremely carefully. And indeed he did, twisting and contorting his body until the beams stopped.

He saw the criminal try to yell out something, but no sound came out. Instead, he stabbed a knife in the criminal’s kidneys. Surprisingly, they were still moving, running away from him. It’s time for the chase to begin. The criminal was limping away, a wounded animal. He followed, slamming his foot into the back of his knee, knocking the criminal to the ground, and he slammed the guy to the ground. He didn’t get back up.

Ah, this was what he was talking about! His heart was pumping, pounding in his throat, energy thrumming through his veins. How could anyone claim to feel _alive_ when they had never held power over life and death?

He slunk into a dark alleyway, in order to revel in the rush of his hunt, to avoid detection from his own predators. The rush of blood in his veins, energy flowing through his skin. He should be tired, he’s been awake for nineteen hours straight, but hell, this was better than drinking a dozen cups of coffee. Is this what Kira feels when he hunts? No, he doesn’t know how Kira does his hunting, but he’s damn sure that Kira doesn’t hunt in person. That makes Kira a coward, hiding behind a screen most likely. That probably means that Kira doesn’t feel a rush of power when he goes on the hunt for his prey. A shame, really, Kira would be the greatest opponent, a prey animal with teeth. It was an easy image to conjure, he imagined his knife stabbed into Kira’s ribs, whatever almighty power that man holds over life and death didn’t work, and he could finally show the world what a coward Kira was.

Finding and slaying Kira would mean he would become the ultimate hunter, the ultimate predator!

He changed out of his clothes into new ones in the alleyway, not bothering to hide his body. Why should he? He’s a predator, a hunter, a lion among zebras. Of course, once he finished changing, he threw the clothes in a nearby dumpster, and stalked off into the night.

He had to go to work in the morning after all. As much as he hated his work at an office, it was the perfect camouflage. Who would expect a mighty hunter to be sitting at a desk? The best hunters are those who don’t look like hunters after all.

And the best part was people thought that he had a speed or agility quirk when he’s on the hunt. No, all his quirk did was make people silent. He pretty much fought without a quirk, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Having no supernatural powers to make your fight easier, relying simply on the strength and skill of your own body to become a hunter, constantly skirting the edge between life and death?

How could anyone else’s lives compare to the thrill of the chase?

See, _this_ was what he was talking about. He had decided to go on the hunt about a week later, trying to find some criminals to hunt down, but instead he was now being chased down by a pro hero. He didn’t know which one, he didn’t really follow the pro hero scene. He didn’t really like having to play the role of prey. The hero threw his scarf thing his way, but he evaded it, pinned the thin cloth to the wall, and then he saw it being pulled taut as the hero tried to pull it out. He left the knife there and ran as fast as he could.

And then he ran into three police officers, guns drawn, a police car behind them. Not wasting a second, he immediately ran at the police officer in the front, spun and kicked the gun out of their hand, and grabbed it with his other hand. He threw the knife in his other hand, getting the second police officer in the kidney. He then took the pistol, applied his quirk to it, and shot the last police officer two times, once in the forehead, once where the guy's heart should be. They both fell to the ground, the pistol having not made a sound. He scooped up one of the other police officer’s pistols and jumped into the police car. The officers really weren’t much in the way of prey. He didn’t even bother closing the door, or buckling his seatbelt. He had a plan to handle the door. He drove up to the side of a building and slammed the car door into the wall, which caused the door to be wrenched off of the police car, leaving him with a completely open door, so he could jump out if needed.

He knew the streets like the back of his hand, and he knew where he needed to go. He took several turns to throw off pursuers, and then when there was an area of grass, he tumbled out, leaving the police car to continue going. The street went on for a while, so the police car would be a red herring. A distraction, so he could continue his hunt. He felt impacts with the sidewalk and the grass. He had grass stains and scrapes for sure. But he could deal with a few injuries. He continued running, ignoring the stinging pain of the scrapes all over him. He had finally gotten away!

And then of course that’s when he got a searchlight from a helicopter shining right on top of him. They had a helicopter on him already? Fuck fuck fuck. He ran up to a building and saw that it had a window. Perfect! He shot his silent pistol at the window, which made it shatter. A half-second later, he had dived through the window and landed inside. Glass both from the window glass still there, and the window glass on the ground, cut into his skin. The injuries were adding up, but getting caught would most certainly be worse.

He heard someone yelling, and he saw a man charge down the stairs and shoot a dart from his palm at him. He dodged the man’s dart and shot him twice. Four more bullets in this gun, eight in the other, twelve total. He needed to use these well.

This must be a home then. He can use this. He ran into the kitchen, and grabbed two knives from the knife block, and used the handles of the knives to break the glass on the kitchen window, and then leap through. It was a three meter drop from the window to the ground, the impact jarring his injuries and making pain shoot through his body. But the searchlight wasn’t on him anymore, and he had two new knives.

Aaaand then Endeavor came running from out of a corner, followed by Eraserhead. Endeavor was his favorite hero, for one reason.

Endeavor was the closest thing to a hunter a hero could be.

A blast of fire went his way, one that he managed to dodge. He threw the knives at police officers he noticed out of the corner of his eye, but because these were not throwing knives, and were instead kitchen knives, one missed and the other embedded itself in the officer’s arm.

After dodging another blast of fire, he jumped into the rapidly receding flames, turned around and shot at the Flame Hero, emptying his stolen pistol into the hero he liked so much.

His hand was shaking though, the fire and smoke around him stung his eyes, so three of the shots missed and the fourth grazed the man’s shoulder. He grabbed the second pistol, but couldn’t fire back as another blast of fire was sent his way, followed soon after by Eraserhead’s scarf. He grabbed the scarf and a knife and stabbed the knife into the ground, pinning the scarf into the ground for the second time tonight. A fireball came his way soon after, which he had to scramble to dodge.

He reached out for his quirk to silence his second stolen pistol, so he could use it again. It wasn’t there. Eraserhead’s quirk blocking it off. That only lasted for around fifteen seconds, and then he could silence the pistol again, which he immediately did. He ran as fast as he could, dashing into alleyways, until he looked in front of him, and there were a dozen pro heroes there.

He looked behind him, Eraserhead and Endeavor had been joined by more pro heroes. Twenty-one pro heroes. Eight bullets, three knives left out of six. His heart was slamming in his chest, every single nerve electrified, all the pain he was feeling muted.

He didn’t waste a second, charging forward at the dozen (actually eleven) pro heroes in front of him. He emptied his second pistol, aiming for eyes and hearts. Eight shots, eight heroes collapsed to the ground.

Quirks flying everywhere, fire, ice, earth spheres, wires, water, metal, dodging with expert skill. The three heroes left in his way got two stabs in the kidneys each. He had to lose a knife though, because one of the heroes had some sort of resistance or durability quirk.

Two knives left, no gun, ten heroes in pursuit.

A blast of fire, larger than all the rest, raced his direction. He was fast, sure, but he wasn’t fast enough, the fire caught him in the back. He grunted at the burns he had gotten. First degree at least, most likely second degree. And then the capture scarf wrapped its way around his torso. Shit shit shit shit shit this is not good. He needed to continue his hunt! No heroes would stop him.

He continued running, pulling the scarf-thing taut, spun around and cut it with his knife. It was a bit difficult to get through, but he managed to get through it.

He then noticed a pink-purple mist floating his way, the wind carrying it in his direction. This was Midnight’s sleeping gas. In other words, not good.

He saw Ectoplasm come his way, he stabbed the hero with his knife, only for it to disappear into white smoke. Ah right, Ectoplasm was the one with the clones.

He heard a gunshot, and then his left hand burst into pain. A second gunshot meant there was a bullet in his thigh.

He continued moving though, cutting down Ectoplasm clones, but a third gunshot made him collapse, the sleeping gas wrapped around him. He fought it, because he wouldn’t be defeated! He cut down three more clones, but a knock to the head from Ectoplasm combined with Midnight’s quirk made him collapse.

* * *

**Ten Days Later:**

Mikami Teru had taken on dozens of cases, to the point where very little shocked him. The wealth of disgusting people in the world were surprising to many people. But this one, this one was shocking.

Toyama Kaito, aged 28.

Toyama killed over a hundred people, and during the events that lead up to his arrest, he killed six people and injured eleven more, many of which were pro heroes. This person was the scum of the earth, and they deserve to be deleted. How Toyama lived a normal life was beyond him.

So when he attended the sentancing, he thought the word in his head he would never say aloud, ‘Delete.’, as the judge slammed the gavel down.

After a short while where he handled the minutiae of the case, he found himself walking to the subway station, until he found a notebook on the ground. Littering? Really? Something like this someone should definitely have noticed dropping from their arms or hands. And there were people walking right by it! The nerve of people.

He grabbed it anyways, taking a glance at it, flipping through the pages and then putting it in his suitcase. He was in need of a notebook to write down case notes anyways, his current one was running out. And this way he could actually use the notebook, something the litterer never did.

When he got home, before opening up his computer, he took out the notebook. His quirk allowed him to feel vague energies around people and objects. He could feel the pure evil aura around Toyama Kaito from a kilometer away. Reading the interview that Detective Tsukauchi ran on Toyama Kaito chilled his blood. Toyama Kaito certainly deserved to be deleted. The notebook had a… strange aura around it, it felt dangerous, which was strange. It’s just a notebook. He opened the notebook and read the first line:

“Rules for using the Death Note.”

What? This doesn’t make sense at all.

“The person whose name is written in this note shall die.”

He looked at the other rules of the note. He had seen the coroner’s reports on some of the criminals Kira killed. No apparent quirk. Was this how Kira killed? This must be. He was angry at Kira, not because he was killing criminals, but because he wasn’t killing enough criminals. There were so many criminals in the world, and they needed to be deleted.

If this notebook has the power of Kira, maybe he can convince Kira that he had lost his focus.

He opened up his computer to a database of criminals he had access to, and began writing down names, the word “delete.” occasionally slipping out of his lips. He’ll finish a page, and then work on his next case.

Maybe he could show Kira that T is nothing to be worried about, that they shouldn’t be scared to almost inaction.

Maybe then, Kira could show how he really was a god.

After finishing a page, he shut the notebook. Thoughts of hiding spaces swirled in his mind, and then he looked out of the corner of his eye. There was something there, something that felt of death, coincidentally having the same energy as the Death Note. He turned around to see a… being standing there. It was about two and a half meters tall, grey, black and white, with a vaguely lizardlike appearance. A long tail was whipping around, and this being had four dark grey eyes with no irises or pupils, three on the left side, one on the right. They had no nose, but a larger mouth. Scales of all sizes covered the beings body, and there was a notebook on a belt at the being’s hip, the only clothes this being seemed to be wearing.

He should feel alarmed, but the being didn’t have murderous intent, so he wasn’t _too_ scared. Still, he needed an explaination. “Who are you?”

“I am a Shinigami, a god of death, known as Fingal. That notebook you have holds the power of Kira, although I already see that you found that out.” The… Shinigami? Fingal? He’ll call them Fingal, as that’s the name that the creature called itself.

“Yes I have, Shinigami. And I’m going to use the notebook to make Kira see how he’s lost his way, by showing him that criminals need to be deleted.” He responded.

“Anyway, you better get used to be, ‘cause I’m gonna be around for a hot minute. But don’t worry, only you can see or hear me, although I’d still be wary around quirk users, I don’t know how quirks interact with my prescence.”

That’s a relief. “Well that’s good news Fingal. Is there anything you’d like to eat?” Was that an appropriate question to ask a god of death he’s not sure, but let it never be said that Mikami Teru was rude to a guest.

“Do you have any apples? There’s just something about apples that all Shinigami like.”

“My uncle just so happens to have an apple grove, and his apples are the best in the nation, if not the world. Take as many as you like, I have far too many and I don’t really like apples so go crazy. Actually, as a sign of goodwill.” He got up, and walked to his fridge, opening it up and then opening the apple drawer, and grabbed a yellow apple. “Try this one, it’s a special apple that tastes like lemonade. I don’t know how they do that, but see if you enjoy it.”

Fingal devoured the entire apple, stem and all. Well Fingal wasn’t a human, so maybe this was how Shinigami eat apples. The Shinigami had big razor-sharp teeth, and a long, greyish pink tongue.

“It tastes wierd for an apple. I don’t like them.” The Shinigami stated.

“Well here’s an apple from my uncle’s orchard.” He grabbed a second apple, one that’s a beautiful mixture of red, orange, and yellow that almost looked like a fire design on it. “See if this is any better.”

He watched as Fingal devoured the apple. “Your right, these apples are amazing. I bet Ryuk’s so jellous.”

“Ryuk?” He asked. “Who is Ryuk?”

“Ryuk is Kira’s Shinigami, and I bet that the apples he’s having are nowhere near as good as these miracles.”

At that point, his doorbell rang. Ah, it must be his next door neighbor. “I hope you don’t mind if I give away some of these apples to my neighbor. She messaged me yesterday and apparently she’s making an apple pie. So I decided to give her some of my apples.”

“As long as I still have some of those heavenly fruits.” Fingal replied.

He grabbed a half-dozen apples and put them in a paper bag. “Don’t worry there’s over a dozen left.”

He opened the door to see Mrs. Kageyama. She was a sweet old lady. “Mikami, dear, how was your day?” She asked as she pressed a two thousand yen bill into his hands. “I can feel how uneasy you are.”

“Just today’s villain. I think they classified him as A-class, which I felt like the villain deserved S-class. I can’t go into much detail for reasons, but I thought I really was numb to this whole thing, and then this happens and I see something that blows everything else out of the water.”

He said. He didn’t know why, but it felt _easy_ to talk to Mrs. Kageyama. A side effect of her quirk, perhaps.

The bag of apples was lowered to the groud and then he tensed up as she hugged him. “Don’t worry Mikami, I know what you’re talking about. I’ve had to deal with all sorts of vengeful, cruel and evil spirits in my time as a medium. You maybe should talk to someone. I may be good at talking to people, but my experience is with the dead, not the living.”

“I think it will, thank you Mrs. Kageyama. And please, keep your money. I earn enough as a prosecutor.” He handed her a card that he kept in his pocket. "Oh and here's the card to my uncle's orchard. I'll tell him about you."

“As humble as usual Mikami! Very well, if you insist.” And with that she walked back to her house.

Maybe she really did have a point about him talking to someone about his line of work. That way, he could keep himself together so he could delete more criminals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to that one commenter who asked for there to be no second Death Note...  
> lol nope. The potential story threads of a second Death Note were too much to just ignore :)
> 
> Also, those lemonade apples are real. And yes they really do taste like lemonade. How they do that I don't know either.
> 
> Next Chapter: Honorable


	27. Honorable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worldbuilding is difficult to make well. You don't want to over-expose the world, it should feel natural.  
> The characters in the world already know the world, so exposition-heavy dialogue is just tacky.
> 
> And we're steadily moving forward at this point. Now that we're at canon point, we can start chugging forward.
> 
> And something I should probably clarify: Mikami's POV takes place about a week after the events of this chapter. So we're not going to have the consequences of that POV for quite some time. I apologize in advance for any confusion you may have had.

'We want an exclusive interview with All Might!”

“Give us All Might! Give us All Might!”

“This is Sakura TV! We demand that you give us an interview with All Might!”

Aizawa Shota heard the TV and news crowds on the other side of the UA barrier. The dorms were supposedly constructed to see if any of the students at UA were the supervillain Kira. But thankfully, the establishment of UA as a boarding school served another purpose.

Namely, the fact that they could avoid the media. He already had a headache from the lengthy arrest of the Musutafu Stalker last night. That criminal was one of the most skilled villains he had ever seen. The villain moved the same whether or not erasure was active, meaning that the villain moved that fast and dodged that effectively without a quirk. And his skill in battle was impressive. That was one of the most messy arrests he had participated in.

He wanted to pummel the person who gave the police guns. They only made it worse.

And he was damn sure he heard the name “Sakura TV.” His headache immediately increased in intensity. Sakura TV was a sensationalist news station, fully willing to embellish the truth or outright lie in order to get better ratings. He wanted them nowhere near UA. And then his phone rang, the caller ID showing that it was Principal Nezu. He immediately accepted it.

“What is it, Principal Nezu?” He asked. Principal Nezu wouldn’t call him unless it was important.

 _“I was wondering if you could make a statement to the media.”_ Principal Nezu said. _“We do need to make a statement.”_

And his headache just got worse. “Why couldn’t you send out Hizashi? Or maybe All Might?” He asked. “Hizashi is better at the public relations stuff. Hell, All Might would be a better choice for this type of business.”

_“That’s where you’re mistaken Aizawa. I don’t want to talk with the media, I want them to go away. I think I can trust you enough to give you the power to do what you need to do to get rid of them.”_

He gave a sigh that he was _sure_ Nezu could hear him. “Surely, you have some ideas of ways to get rid of them.”

 _“Of course I do.”_ Replied the principal, and he could _hear_ the smugness in the principal’s voice. _“But you do too, and I have to make some calls to these companies and talk some sense into the companies.”_

“Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” He replied. This was only their third day, but he had already had to prevent the dorms from being burned down twice, and Kaminari, Ashido, and Hagakure were now permanently banned from cooking. It’s time to make a class president and vice president so they could take care of their classmates so he didn’t have to. He needed a nap after this.

As soon as he walked up to the open gate, he saw the media go wild, yelling out requests for interviews with All Might, combined with requests to find out what he was doing here. One of the journalists called him a homeless person. He didn’t want to deal with this anymore.

“Go away. In order to see All Might, you need to submit a request to interview in person. Now please go away.”

Just why did they have to hire All Might? Sure Brightsteel had retired, but All Might? He would’ve recommended someone, _anyone_ , before All Might. The number one hero was too public, and of course this problem had occurred. This probably had to do with All Might training his successor. He didn’t want to make assumptions, but if he was a betting man, his money would be on Midoriya. And it wasn’t because of the similar quirk, either. There were several reasons. Midoriya was far too familiar with the facilities at UA, and he had seen All Might talking to the problem child.

So now it’s time to do some investigation into why Midoriya had been chosen as All Might’s successor. Sure they had similar quirks, but surely that wasn’t the entire case. Plenty of people have had strength enhancement quirks. Hell, he has another student in his class that also has a strength enhancement quirk.

Eh, he’ll think about it later, he has a class to teach.

* * *

“Today we’re going to do something very important.” Aizawa-sensei announced. “But before that, I’ve been told that I should use my name for you all. I don’t know why, but I’m Tadeki Kitaro, your official homeroom teacher.”

Oh really, _Aizawa?_ Well he has to remember to call Eraserhead Tadeki-sensei in front of the rest of the class, but this gives him information. He already knew that T suspected Kira of being a UA student, but the fake name his homeroom teacher provided was proof enough they suspected Kira was at UA. Unfortunately, about sixty years ago, UA changed its policy and he couldn’t get people’s real names from the Sports Festival, so pretty much all he had at this point was his homeroom teacher’s last name: Aizawa.

His classmates were talking about this sort of thing, about how they couldn’t believe that their homeroom teacher had a name, and how cool it sounded.

“Anyway, back to the thing that’s important.” Aiz-no, Tadeki-sensei, get used to that name Izuku, said, which made everyone silent, which Ryuk thought was hilarious. “We’re going to pick a class representative.”

People started yelling out all sorts of things. He heard Kirishima yell out something like “So normal!” but then people started yelling out how good of a class president they’d be.

“Everyone!” Iida yelled out, swinging his arms in a pattern that Izuku should probably get used to. Surprisingly, Iida’s voice was authoritative enough that it also silenced everyone. Out of everyone in his class, he didn’t expect Iida to have Eraserhead energy. “We should put this to a vote! That way we can choose someone agreeable to everyone! Is that acceptable A-Tadeki-sensei?” Iida asked. The slip-up at the beginning was almost unnoticeable. Keyword almost. Izuku had always had sharp hearing. Did Iida know their homeroom teacher’s full name? Indeed, as he thought about it, Iida’s reaction to the fake name looked like he knew it was fake.

“Do whatever you want, just don’t disturb me.” A-Tadeki-sensei said as he slunk into his sleeping bag. “Last night’s arrest was really stressful.” The hero muttered, something Izuku barely heard.

“All right!” Iida announced. “Everyone will get one vote, and the person who gets the most votes wins! Any objections?”

The small part of Izuku’s brain that was dedicated to voting systems (Hey, even he descended down into HeroTube clickholes sometimes) screamed out that this was first past the post, arguably one of the worst voting systems.

He quickly shut that part down. Now is not the time for that at all.

Uraraka spoke up at that point. “We don’t know each other too well, won’t people just vote for themselves?”

“That’s why the person who gets more than one vote is truly worthy of being class representative!” Iida replied.

Oh that’s genius! Iida put quite a bit of thought into this. Well, Izuku knows where his vote is going. Voting for himself? No way, he’s not the best person to be in leadership at all. Although, a question is bothering him.

“Who is going to count the votes?” He asked.

A-Tadeki sensei got up at that point. “Guess I’ll do it.” He pulled out nineteen slips of paper from his sleeping bag. “Write the person your voting for on this slip of paper and I’ll collect them.

The moment he got his paper he hastily wrote down the name “Iida Tenya” and handed it back to their teacher.

After another three minutes, A-Tad-, Aizawa-sensei pressed a button on a remote, revealing the top three contenders.

**Midoriya Izuku: 4**

**Yaoyorozu Momo: 3**

**Iida Tenya: 2**

Wait, what? He didn’t vote for himself, so that means that four of his classmates voted for him. Who?

“Alright, your class representative is Midoriya Izuku and your vice representative is Yaoyorozu Momo. That’ll be all. Head to your next class you heathens.” And with that, Aizawa sat back down into his sleeping bag.

He was the class representative?

His morning classes were nothing special. He had taken to checking the news at least twice a day. It’s innocent enough, opening the news app on his phone between classes. Usually it’s just normal things. Heroes catching villains, deteriorating relations between Australasia and the Indonesian Empire, the NRF continuing it’s cleanup around Moscow, some new law banning some product or other. Although today, on the “villain’s arrested” list was something special, the arrest of the Musutafu Stalker, who had been classified as an S-Class villain upon his arrest, because he had killed over 150 people. He read the article, and turns out that this villain, who’s name and specific quirk weren't released, although details of his quirk had, had been caught by Midnight and Snipe, but not before attempting to flee for almost a half-hour, which resulted in the deaths of eleven people, and injuries on four more, including Endeavor.

All this man’s quirk allowed him to do was make things silent. So in essence, he had injured the Number Two hero while fighting quirkless.

This was what they were in for as heroes.

“Hey Midoriya, you seem pretty shaken about something.” He heard Iida say. Oh yeah, he was at lunch now. For some reason he had gathered a group for lunch. At Aldera, he usually ate alone, so this was new. Yaoyorozu, Iida, Asui, and Uraraka were all sitting here. Damn Iida is really perceptive.

“Did you hear that the heroes finally caught the Musutafu Stalker?” He asked. “Apparently he had a normal day job, just like a normal civilian. But he was skilled enough to go face-to-face with Endeavor while fighting practically quirkless. It’s just a bit scary to think that that’s what we’re expected to fight as future heroes.”

“I will admit that reading the testimony is not for the faint of heart.” Iida said. “To think that people like that exist in real life, it’s terrifying to think about.”

“Hey Iida.” Uraraka spoke up, probably changing the subject. “Your costume looked familiar. Are you related to Ingenium by any chance?”

“Yes! Ingenium is my older brother! I want to be a hero just like him!”

And as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t hold back the information he knew. “Ingenium’s agency is very busy with over 65 sidekicks! You’re related to him? That’s so cool!”

Iida seemed to be embarrassed by that fact. “Well yes, my entire family are well-known heroes, even though we really can’t reveal our real names.”

Uraraka looked at him in shock. “So you’re a rich kid, aren’t ya!” She said in a fake accusatory tone.

“I mean… I don’t want to say it like that…”

“Don’t worry Iida.” He replied. He needed to salvage this conversation somehow. “We’re not going to treat you any differently. We’re all hero students here.”

“So what do you think of Tadeki-sensei’s teaching style?” Yaoyorozu asked. “I find it far too informal, but I do think that he’s pretty effective at what he does.”

Izuku noticed Iida slightly tense at the mention of “Tadeki”. So Iida knows Aizawa-sensei somehow? That’s the only case. Well, Ingenium and Eraserhead were friends, if the pictures in the UA yearbook were of any indication, so it made sense that Eraserhead knew Ingenium’s younger brother in his civilian form. He’ll ask Iida about it in private sometime in the future.

“I think he’s great.” He said. “I mean, he’s not sugarcoating anything, he’s trying to tell people what hero work really is like, giving us a cold dose of reality.”

“I know!” Uraraka said. “But maybe he could be a bit nicer about it ya’ know? Maybe ease us into this?”

“Like… Tadeki-sensei said on the first day, time is precious. Mineta leaving on the second day means that he doesn’t have to waste effort.” He saw Asui, Yaoyorozu, and Uraraka tense when he mentioned Mineta’s name. “Asui, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, what happened with Mineta?”

It was Yaoyorozu who spoke up. “Mineta was making all the girls uncomfortable. He hadn’t done anything yet, but we all were unsettled by him, and we caught him sneaking glances at…” She trailed off, the implications obvious.

“Anyway!” He said, maybe a bit too quickly, but he wanted to get their minds off of uncomfortable subjects. “Who voted for me? I voted for Iida.” Iida looked at him shocked. “So four people independently voted for me. You don’t need to tell me, I’m just curious.”

“Well, I voted for you, for one.” Iida said. “I saw your leadership and planning skills during both of your battle trials, and I’d have to say you were quite impressive. So I thought you would make a good class representative.”

Uraraka spoke up also. “I also voted for you. I saw how good you were during the battle trial, and I think you have what is needed to be a leader.”

Damn damn damn, he _really_ didn’t want to do this. Class rep duties could potentially cut into his time as Kira, time which he couldn’t give up at all. He needed a reason to give up his duties. Something to prove someone would be a better choice then him.

Yaoyorozu spoke up next. “I also voted for you, much for the same reasons as Iida or Uraraka. I’ve met quite a few leaders in my life, and you seem to be just the type to be a good leader.”

Ah… that’s not what he really wanted, but he could handle it. If he absolutely needed to, he could be class rep, but he really didn’t want to.

“What about you, Asui, who did you vote for?” He asked. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want.”

“I actually voted for you, Kero.” She said to Yaoyorozu. “And I know that Ashido also voted for you. We both agreed that you are smart, and caring, and deserved the role as representative.”

He saw that Yaoyorozu seemed surprised at this. “Really? You think I could be a leader?” She asked.

“Of course.” He said. “I actually considered voting for you.”

“Thanks Midoriya.” She said. “So that’s most of our votes accounted for. So who was the last person that voted for you?”

* * *

He remembered the plan that they had worked through, over and over in their head. All for One had media connections, and the news media was rabid enough in general, to the point that all All for One had to do was leak the fact that All Might was teaching at UA. Of course, they were still locked out because of the UA barrier, but they had a plan for that.

_Seven Hours Ago:_

_“Alright.” All for One said. “I told the media that All Might was teaching at UA, so the media is going to be there. Tomura is going to be in the crowd disgusied as a journalist, until he can get the chance to Decay a section of the UA barrier. Once the media is let into UA. Crafter, Maker, I want you to follow the plan that Kurogiri and Breakin crafted.” He looked down at the copy of the plan he had. It was simple, sure, but he was nervous about this. “Got that, Crafter.”_

_“Yes.” He replied._

_“Got that, Maker?”_

_He heard her reply “yes”_

He had slipped away from the people he sat with at lunch, claiming that he needed to use the bathroom. He actually did, though, but he had a specific goal. Breakin had proven her name, and over several times had broken into UA and installed software that would loop the security cameras in specific areas. All he needed to do was push a button on a remote. The remote which had been taped to the underside of the lid of the toilet tank in the third stall. He slipped in, (thank the gods it was unoccupied) and sat down, waiting for the alarm to sound, which would be the sign for him to press the button.

This was easy on his conscience, all he had to do was press a button.

The alarm sounded, and he pressed the button.

After doing that, he destroyed the remote and put the remnants in the bathroom trash can, washed his hands and ran out with the rest of the crowd, ignoring the knot of feelings in his chest.

* * *

Focus. Calm yourself. You’ll talk to Seishin over the weekend, and he’ll help you. Hopefully.

_“This is a class 1 emergency. Please head orderly to shelter points.”_

Izuku looked up at a third-year student. “Don’t look at me, this has never happened in my three years here.”

Perhaps because this was so rare, everyone was running , pushing, shoving, moving. He had grabbed Uraraka’s hand just for something to ground him. Eventually he got to the point where he was pressed up on the window. He saw that it was just the news media. “Uraraka! It’s just the media! Can you do anything about it?”

He heard Uraraka say something, then Iida replying, then a slapping sound, then Iida floated up, careened about, and then slammed into the emergency exit sign. Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle. Iida looked exactly like the emergency exit man!

“Everyone!” Iida yelled out. “It’s just the media! Reacting so disorderly is unbecoming of a student at UA!”

And surprisingly, people listened, and the evacuation was much more orderly. Ok, that cements what he needs to do now.

“As my first action as class representative, I would like to offer the position to Iida.” He said from the podium. Thankfully Iida accepted, and Aizawa went along with it, so now Iida was the class rep. That’s fine, he has more time to plan ahead now. And things to think about. Like was he selfish accepting All Might’s quirk? This villain proved you can do great things without a quirk.

Maybe he should talk to All Might about this. Perhaps All Might had similar thoughts?

He grabbed his phone and texted All Might.

**MintMight [3:04]:** Could I talk to you about something important that’s been on my mind?

This was his final class of the day, but All Might was probably teaching 1-B at this point. Twenty minutes later, his phone pinged.

**Yagi [3:25]:** Of course, young Midoriya. I just finished with my class.

* * *

 _“You did get the information that Sensei wanted, didn’t you Maker?”_ The voice of Tomura Shigaraki came from the burner phone.

“Yes, there’s a planned field trip to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. It’s pretty far from the main building, and there’s only Eraserhead, Thirteen, and All Might present. It’s like the heroes have gift-wrapped us a way to end All Might.”

 _“Yes indeed. And if you’re wondering about if I need to know names or quirks, Sensei said I didn’t need that information.”_ Shigaraki sounded annoyed, like he hadn’t agreed to this. That was probably the truth.

“Just out of curiosity, have you found anything out about the people in Stain’s group?” She asked. Stain had this whole group about him, and she was curious about the people involved in it.

_“Stain’s too smart to give up information about himself. Dabi’s hiding a shitton, probably about his hate boner to Endeavor. As for the rest, I have no fucking clue. Are there any people of interest in your class or the other one?”_

She thought through everyone. “Actually there is a person of interest. Midoriya Izuku. Plain-looking, with green hair and eyes. Oh and freckles.”

 _“Is there a reason why he’s a person of interest or are you just thirsting after him?”_ Shigaraki asked, clearly annoyed.

“It’s not like that Shiggy.” She said. “And yes there is. He’s pretty smart, and he’s got a good strategic mind. And I’ve heard rumors that he’s All Might’s successor.”

 _“Keep that to yourself, don’t tell Sensei.”_ Shigaraki said in a quiet tone. _“Sensei wants me to start making plans on my own, so that’s what I’m doing. I want you to start working on convincing this Midoriya that hero society is broken, and needs to be rebuilt. I’ll start working on finding his records, let’s see if anything interesting shows up.”_

“Very well, I'll make sure to do that. Is there anything else you need?”

 _“I’ll text you if I miss something.”_ Shigaraki replied. _“Now I need to plan.”_

“Alright, see you soon.”

* * *

They finally managed to get all of the journalists and media people out of the school, after having promised them an interview with All Might “Sometime in the future”. And of course they were charged with trespass, but it would most likely be just a fine. Jailing journalists looks bad, even though these people did commit a jailable offense most likely.

But as Aizawa Shota looked at the ashes that once made up the UA barrier. Journalists don’t usually have quirks that are capable of doing something like this. It could be a combination of quirks, six or seven quirks weak on their own but combined together make something strong, but it’s more likely someone used this opportunity to get something in UA.

“What are your thoughts on this?” Nezu asked from beside him.

“I think that there’s a possibility that this was used as a distraction to have something happen in the school. We should double-check the security camera footage.” He said.

“I was thinking the same thing.” Nezu replied. “Anyway, I give you permission to leave the campus so you can go to Kamui Wood’s agency.” Nezu added knowingly.

“Thanks. And you know I can’t talk about what’s going on.” He said. “But this is something that we should address.” He gestured to the disintegrated barrier.

“I’ll take care of that Eraserhead.” Nezu said as he walked back into the campus.

A car from Kamui Wood’s agency pulled up at the gates of UA, which he got in. The driver was one of the civilian officers involved in the investigation.

“So T called us for something?” He asked. “Do you know what it is?”

“Not really. I think this is just a weekly update on the investigation.” The officer, Detective Ichiwara if his memory serves him right, commented. “I’ve worked on difficult cases before, but this one’s beyond insane. Is it bad for me to say that I like gathering evidence for Toyama Kaito’s trial more, because I’m actually doing something?”

“No.” He replied. “I understand how you feel. Working on something like that, even something that’s not investigative, you’re still _doing_ something, like putting away that… monster so he’s never getting out. Given the scope of these crimes, it’s likely he’s going to Tartarus. Or being executed, that’s also a likely possibility.”

Their conversation continued on similar lines. Indeed, the Kira case really was frustrating. No quirk use apparent, just the villains dying of heart attacks. It didn’t make sense at all, but there were far too many for it to be coincidence. And T thought that Kira could be a UA student, so that’s why he was going under a fake name. Although there’s a 3 in 4 chance that they already know his real name, but in the rare 1 in 4 chance that Kira’s a first-year student (which is a terrifying thought, that one of his students could be Kira, although T put the odds at .5%), he accepted the fake name.

“So you’re saying that you have no new information?” Kamui Woods asked.

 _“Indeed.”_ The voice of T came from the laptop. _“These cases take time though, and the particular difficulty from this case comes from the method in which Kira kills. Kira possesses some sort of power that allows them to kill anyone in the world as long as they know their name and face. No evidence, and based on the fact that the first spread of killings was spread out over all hours, we can further deduce that Kira can control the time of deaths as well, giving him a perfect alibi._

“So what are we going to do?” Death Arms asked. “If it’s as you said, then there’s pretty much nothing for us to do. What’s your plan, T?”

 _“We set a trap for Kira. We’ll have to wait before we do that though, maybe Kira will reveal themself. We can’t put pressure on Kira yet.”_ T replied. _“Does anyone have anything else to add?”_

There was silence.

 _“Very well, I will be signing off. Remember, gentleman, we_ will _catch Kira.”_ T finished, and then the laptop shut off. Watari grabbed the laptop and left at that point.

* * *

“You wanted to talk to me young Midoriya?” All- Yagi asked as he walked into Yagi’s office.

“Yes. It’s about… about One for All.” He said, sitting down in one of the chairs, a knot in his chest. “I don’t know, I’ve had feelings about what my life would be if I rejected One for All and became a quirkless hero.”

Yagi sat back. “What spawned these feelings young Midoriya? You’re a perfect fit for my quirk, and I couldn’t have thought of anyone better.” Yagi said, leaning in a bit.

“Well it was the information the media released about the Musutafu Stalker, how he did all of those things basically quirkless, It makes me feel like I’m pathetic for accepting a quirk rather than braving it myself.” He said. It was good to get these feelings out, a figment of how he really felt.

“Young Midoriya.” Yagi said, putting a thin hand on him. “You’re not pathetic for accepting One for All. The villain you’re talking about, I don’t know much, but from what I heard, whenever he’s ‘On the hunt’ as he called it, he changed into a different person, losing what made him human, only thinking about himself. That villain isn’t someone you should let affect you, young Midoriya. I am a good judge of character, and you are the brightest bulb I have ever seen. You’ll be a great hero young Midoriya.”

He felt… comfortable a bit, a breath of fresh air. Still, he had quite a bit of worries to take care of. Shigaraki had called a meeting over the weekend, giving it the name “Victory Meeting” and if anything is unsettling, it’s that. He already got permission from Aizawa to leave (calling him Eraserhead of course) for the entire weekend, and he told his mom that he was hanging out at a friend’s house over the night in question. (His mom was so bone tired she probably didn’t fully comprehend what he had said.) So he was set for the weekend.

“Thanks for that, Yagi. I feel better now.” He got up and left. And it was truthful indeed.

It’s a waiting game now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to make a few one-shots detailing events that aren't important enough to be in the main story. They're part of this fic's canon, but are just short stories that build up the world of SWKP, focused on some of the OC's in this story.  
> First sidestory chapter: the events surrounding Toyama Kaito's trail.
> 
> Next Chapter: Attack (exactly what you think it means)
> 
> If you have anything to say, say it! Constructive criticisms only please. I appreciate critical comments, because that's how I improve as a writer! If you want to trash talk me, that's fine. I'll ignore it.


	28. Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> USJ part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to pick up here.  
> The thick plottens.  
> We're going to do the best thing around! Ye.
> 
> Also, my fav character is Tokoyami.

A large villain, easily clearing two stories, layers of muscles guarding his entire body, including his head, the muscles forming what looked like headgear, had captured a bunch of people and holding them in one arm and with the other, slapped aside Death Arms, followed quickly by Mt. Lady.

“Better be careful, heroes. There’s civilians on the line, after all.” The large villain raised his arm, indicating the people he had trapped.

Mt. Lady dived in with her hand, trying to get at the civilians, but the large villain evaded the strike, moving surprisingly fast for his size, and then punched Mt. Lady in the stomach. “The name’s Trapezius Headgear, serial robber and murderer, don’t you forget it.”

A civilian walking by, a businessman with coppery skin, raised his phone and took a picture, and then was typing on his phone, muttering something.

It appeared that the villain had super hearing as well, because he lunged at the civilian. “You will not post my real name online for me to be killed by Kira. I am above that villain!” Mt. Lady managed to intercede, but she had been knocked aside. But she had bought enough time for Kamui Woods to rescue the civilian from harm.

“I appreciate trying to be an everyday hero.” Kamui Woods said. “But sometimes it’s not the right time. And stay off the Kira forums, while it’s not yet illegal, those sites aren’t to be trusted.”

“Right.” The civilian said, with a hint of sarcasm, but they did jog away from Trapezius Headgear, and opened up their phone to call someone else, probably their boss.

He hated how much attention Kira had been getting lately, and how popular the villain had gotten. He extended out his quirk again, keeping people away from this villain, and making forays into getting the hostages the villain had taken out of the picture. But every limb he extended was smashed into splinters.

Is it just him, or have villains been getting harder ever since the almost simultaneous rises of Stain and Kira? Death Arms and Mt. Lady combined were about matching this villain in strength, but not in speed.

And then like a bang from a cannon, the words **“Missouri Smash!”** reverberated around the street they were in. He blinked, and All Might was standing there, villain knocked to the ground, the hostages walking away, the crowds cheering for All Might, even that one coppery skinned civilian who apparently had circled back. One of the cheers might have been too loud for a normal person, someone must have slipped up and used a voice quirk, but that’s reasonable.

If All Might continued like this, the profession of hero might be in trouble.

The police arrived on the scene in mere seconds (they had actually been around the street for their safety), and then one of the police officers thanked All Might.

 **“I’m always happy to help!”** All Might exclaimed, ever-present grin on his face. **“I mustn't be late, farewell!”**

At that point someone yelled out something about a hit and run. “Let us handle it, All Might.” He said. “If you have somewhere to be, you should go there.” 

**“Very right, Kamui Woods.”** And with that, All Might leapt into the air.

Well, time to chase down a car.

* * *

Now that Midoriya Izuku got back into the swing of going to classes, and the glamour of being taught by heroes wore off on him, the days passed really fast, and in no time at all, he was in the final foundational hero studies class of the week.

Midoriya Izuku couldn’t help but feel nervous about the upcoming weekend. Shigaraki had something planned, he knew that much, but he didn’t know exactly what it was. And since there wasn’t anything on the news, that means that it was happening today.

Also, Shigaraki wasn’t the villains real name. He had tried writing it in the Death Note. And the same went for Kurogiri. It was a far cry, but if it had worked, he could’ve prevented whatever was going to happen.

“Alright” Aizawa-sensei announced. “Over the past week, you’ve learned how to use your quirks in combat. However, today we’re doing…” Their teacher pulled out a card that read ‘Rescue’ on it in bold letters. “Rescue training. Mountain rescues, natural disasters, and the aftermath of villain encounters. These types of things are far more common than you’d expect, and the heroes that do this type of work aren’t appreciated.” Izuku mentally recalled what All Might told him about public service, how it had been what heroes had done in the era before quirks, and how people that do it now aren’t appreciated at all.

“Yeah! Rescuing people is what a hero does!” Kirishima yelled out.

“I always wanted to be a rescue hero.” Uraraka added.

“I wonder how we’re going to do this.” Yaoyorozu said.

“I’d be at home in a flood.” Asui commented.

Aizawa then pushed a button, opening up the compartments where their hero costumes were stored. “You can bring your costume if you want, but take into consideration how your costume affects your capability to rescue. Some of them are more suited to rescue than others, something you might want to take into consideration in the future.”

That made Izuku think about his costume. It was pretty functional, so he might as well use it. There weren’t really any parts that would be bad for rescue. There was a small burn on the jacket, but from what he heard from the support department, it had been repaired. So he could actually use his costume now, which definitely was better than the alternative, which was probably his gym uniform. Or maybe just not using the jacket. He grabbed his costume case and went down to the locker room to change.

He made sure to surreptitiously slip a few pieces he took from the Death Note into his hero costume, just to make sure that he had something ready. He felt that maybe Shigaraki was planning something at UA, so if someone slipped up, he had already written the details of the villain’s death, all he needed was the name.

“Everyone!” Iida announced. “Please line up orderly to get on the bus!”

Izuku knew this bus wasn’t made in the traditional way, he saw the brand as they were walking out, so lining up wouldn’t work. Iida discovered this about a minute later when they actually loaded up on the bus. He ended up sitting in between Asui and Ojiro.

“I’ve been thinking about something, Midoriya.” Asui spoke up.

“What is it, As-Tsuyu?” He asked. It was still a bit difficult to remember that she wanted to go by her given name.

“So I like to speak what’s on my mind.” She said. He was aware of that fact when he had asked her for advice for his hero costume. It’s refreshing to meet someone that doesn’t sugarcoat everything they say. “And I was thinking about your quirk. It may be a bit of a stretch, but it felt similar to All Might’s quirk.”

He had suspected this was a possibility, so he brought it up during his training. Principal Nezu had suggested downplaying it.

So that’s exactly what he did.

“Tsuyu, strength enhancement quirks are really common. We even have another person with a strength enhancement quirk in our class. It’s probably just a coincidence.” He replied.

She seemed to accept that, and sat back in her seat.

“Even though it’s pretty common, strength enhancement quirks are cool and flashy.” Kirishima said from behind him. “At least, it's more flashy than my hardening quirk.” Kirishima activated his quirk, his hand becoming rocky and jagged. “It’s pretty boring.”

Kirishima’s quirk, boring? No way! “Kirishima, you’re quirk is pretty impressive! I can imagine many ways for your quirk to be useful!”

“Thanks Midoriya.” Kirishima replied. “Although if we’re talking about useful and impressive, we should talk about Bakugo and Todoroki”

“Well, sure.” Kaminari said. “But Bakugo’s personality is pretty shit. He’s so angry!”

“The hell do you mean I’m angry?!” Bakugo yelled. “You haven’t done any of your homework Dunce Face!”

“It may be correct that I haven’t completed any assignments, but you have made it abundantly clear during our time of cohabitation that you have a deeply unpleasant personality that can be compared unfavorably to a steaming pile of shit.” Kaminari rattled off, almost like it was memorized. Maybe it was.

Thankfully, nobody had noticed that Izuku was sitting back in his seat. It was surprising that everything was different now that they’re at UA. He had heard about the “big fish in a small pond” concept, but it was crazy seeing it play out in real-time. Well Bakugo better get used to not being the strongest person in the room.

“Fuck off, Dunce Face! You’re words won’t mean shit if I crush you!”

He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Todoroki was sleeping. His costume looked pretty uncomfortable, so how the guy slept in it was beyond him.

“Anyway, do you guys know where we’re going?” Ashido asked. “I mean, I know we’re going to do rescue training, because that’s what Tadeki-sensei said we were doing, but where is it?”

Aizawa spoke up at that point. “There’s a facility that we go to for rescue training. I’m not saying anything more.”

It didn’t take them too long to get to their destination, the bus only traveled an additional minute or so before it stopped. He got out and there was a massive dome. UA’s budget must be crazy if they could afford to make a building _that_ big. Well he already knew that UA had a bunch of money so it shouldn’t be surprising.

“Alright, here we are.” Aizawa said. “Everyone, get in.”

The inside of the massive dome was just as amazing as the outside, different types of terrains, and a dome within the larger dome, looking like it has a storm pattern on it. A lake complete with a boat and a large ice-filled waterslide, what looked like a mountain, a burning city…

Wait, this looked like the recommendation exam site. It made sense, use one facility for several things, and there were people on staff who could move large amounts of land or reshape things quickly, like Cementoss or Mahakala.

In front of them was the rescue hero Thirteen, recognizable from their spacernaught costume. Thirteen had a devastatingly powerful quirk, Black Hole, which did exactly what it sounded like, sucking in things and destroying them.

“Hello everyone, I am the rescue hero Thirteen!” Thirteen exclaimed. He saw Uraraka looking at the hero in wonder. Huh, maybe she liked Thirteen? “And this is my facility, built by myself, covering all sorts of disasters you might experience, everything from floods to landslides to fires, every sort of disaster and calamity imaginable, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!”

Huh. It had the same acronym as Universal Studios Japan. Coincidence? Maybe.

He saw Aizawa walk up to Thirteen and talk in hushed tones, although Izuku overheard something concerning “All Might” and “Time Limit” and surreptitiously held up three fingers. Ah, he had heard that All Might had done hero work this morning. His time limit probably ran out during hero work.

So Aizawa knew about the limit, and All Might’s thin form, but did not know about One for All. Interesting.

“Before we get started.” Thirteen said, breaking away from his conversation with Aizawa. “I have one or two points I’d like to mention… or maybe three… or four…” raising a finger each additional point they added.

“Anyway, as I’m sure quite a few of you are aware, my quirk is called Black Hole, allowing me to suck in and tear apart anything.”

Izuku noticed out of the corner of his eye that Uraraka was vigorously nodding along with Thirteen’s speech. A bit surprising, he wouldn’t have taken her for a Thirteen fan.

“I use it mainly for rescue, but it’s a power that can easily kill.”

He had put in the work analyzing his classmates’ quirks, trying to figure them out. And now that Thirteen had mentioned it, his mind drifted into thinking about how their quirks could be used to kill. Many of them were obvious. He could most likely kill someone on his own without the Death Note, just using the strength from All Might. Bakugo, Todoroki, Tokoyami, Sato and Kaminari could do the same, using overwhelming power from their quirks. But other people could use their quirks more creatively.

His thoughts were cut off by Thirteen's continued monologue. “Most of you have already found out your quirks can do this. But that’s what this lesson is about! Eraserhead’s quirk assessment test showed you the potential of your quirks. All Might’s lesson taught you to use your quirks on others.

“And then take a look at the wider society. The use of quirks is heavily regulated, and it may seem like our society is stable, but all it takes is for someone with a relatively powerful quirk to lose control and people will die. However, as of four months ago, society experienced a major shift. I’m sure you are all aware of Stain and Kira.”

Of course he did. He had met the former personally and he was the latter. How would his classmates react if they knew that Kira was among them? But he did know the effect he had on society. Perhaps it was too much…

A problem for another time. Right now he was a hero-in-training. Rescue training was important.

“People have gotten more critical of heroes in the past four months because of these two villains.” Izuku got angry whenever Kira was refered to as a villain. Kira was a hero, just like Yanluo Wang. But he couldn’t up and say that, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

“So rescue training is only more important, because of perception. You’ll be spending a lot of time here, so I want to teach you well. Your quirks are not meant to harm, they’re meant to help! Now, Eraserhead, take it away.”

“Alright, first group is-”

Izuku got a sense of something feeling _wrong_ , and he looked over to the central fountain. There was a small black swirling mass. There was only one person this could be. Kurogiri. So the League was going to attack UA.

After a few criminals poured out of Kurogiri’s warp gate, Shigaraki emerged, fully decked out in the hands, covering his arms, neck, and head, connected with thick red cables. They looked like they were real, and Izuku had a sneaking suspicion that they were.

“Has the exercise already started?” Uraraka asked. “Are those fake robots like from the entrance exam?” Kirishima asked.

“No.” Aizawa said. “This isn’t part of the exercise. These are real villains.”

Villains continued to pour out of Kurogiri’s portal. All but two were charging forward at them. Shigaraki and a large, black-colored person with an exposed brain and a thousand-yard stare. There’s something unsettling about the person, something felt wrong.

Eraserhead jumped into the pack of villains almost immediately, capture cloth swishing around, erasing quirks left and right.

He knew this wasn’t Aizawa’s specialty, but just because it isn’t your specialty doesn’t mean you’ll do well.

Kurogiri then teleported in front of them. “Greetings. I’d tell you my name but the odds of it ending up on a Kira forum is too high. But I am from the League of Villains, and we have the goal of killing All Might.”

Kurogiri didn’t have to worry about that, because Kurogiri wasn’t his real name, but he wouldn’t just up and say that.

“Anyway, I’m going to-”

“You can’t do anything with your mist if I suck it away!” Exclaimed Thirteen, who activated their quirk, sucking in Kurogiri’s warp gate. “I’ll keep him occupied, Kaminari, check communications.”

“The villains cut communications off!” Kaminari yelled back.

“Alright, Iida, go run and get help!”

“Well.” Kurogiri said. “Thirteen. A pretty powerful quirk you have there, but you’re a rescue hero, which means you don’t see that much combat. Also, you shouldn’t discuss your plans in front of me.”

Izuku saw a portal open up behind Thirteen, which ate away at the back of their spacernaught costume, until Thirteen collapsed. “That means your fighting skill is subpar. Anyway, now it’s time.” Kurogiri turned slightly and then faced them. “It is my goal to split you all up.” Izuku saw Kirishima and Bakugo jump out and attack Kurogiri. “Like hell we’re allowing that to happen.” Bakugo yelled out. Kurogiri opened a portal, and Bakugo and Kirishima were gone. He heard Kurogiri mutter something like “That was a close one.”

He knew Kurogiri had a body under that smoke. “Sero! Use your tape to capture the villain, Iida, go run and get help!”

The tape did indeed wrap around Kurogiri. “How did you know he had a body under there?” Sero asked him.

“The villain said something about it being ‘a close one’, if he didn’t have a body there’s nothing to be worried about. Sero, could you hand me the tape?” He asked, and Sero did as requested. He swung the tape, and now Kurogiri was pretty far away. “Iida, go run and get help!”

“But, what about protecting you all?” Iida asked.

“This is how you protect us, now go, we can’t hold this villain off forever. It took Iida a short bit, but he squeezed through the front door.

And not a moment too soon, because Kurogiri appeared in front of them not a second later. “This pitiful last stand will cease. Begone!” Kurogiri yelled out, a twinge of anger in his voice. Huh, he had never heard Kurogiri get angry before. Soon he was surrounded in the Warp Gate, and then he fell through the portal. This was his first time experiencing what the Warp Gate felt like. It was cool and sort of wet…

Wait, no that’s water. He opened his eyes to see that there was water around him. He swam upwards, towards the light. He surfaced after a few seconds, taking a few deep breaths, and looked around to see where he was. This was the flood zone, he figured out. And if Kurogiri distributed them at random, that means that odds are one or two of his classmates were in the same area as him. So he needed to find his classmates. Where would the best place for them to go in the flood zone?

The answer popped into his head, it seemed so obvious in hindsight. The ship in the center! Of course! He started swimming towards the boat, powering up One for All to get there faster.

However, his journey wasn’t about to be unimpeded, of course, and a shark-like villain appeared in front of him. Did he really have to fight in the water? This was going to be a pain. With One for All, he was fast enough to evade the shark villain.

Then, a massive arm of water missed him by a foot. Another villain? He didn’t operate well in the water. Ugh.

Aaand two more villains showed up. This was not good at all.

Just before the four villains were about to strike, a tongue wrapped around him and pulled him onto the boat. The impact on the boat’s surface was jarring, but that was the least of his concerns now.

“Thanks As-Tsuyu. I couldn’t really jump on the boat because I didn’t have something to jump off of.” He said.

“No problem, Midoriya.” She replied. “I didn’t see any more of our classmates in this zone, but we could’ve missed someone that’s further away, kero.”

“Good idea. We have the advantage while we’re on the boat. I’m going to go down into the boat to see if I can get it moving. Because if I can’t, we’re pretty much a sitting duck.”

“Ok.” She said. “I’ll be on watch for any of our classmates and rescue them if I find them.”

The boat wasn’t too big, so it didn’t take him that long to get to the engine room, or what looked like the engine room. Of course nothing was labelled at all. He looked through the shelves and drawers, looking for some sort of guide or _something_. He didn’t have enough knowledge to start this boat up without the potential for something to go wrong. Right now this boat was a safe haven. Vulnerable as it was, it was better than the lake, because the villains that were in the flood zone seemed to work well in the water.

Maybe the control room would be better? He had passed it on the way. He ran up to the control room he had seen on the way. The door was locked, but kicking the door with One for All was enough to break the door open. Thankfully the control room of the boat was clearly labeled. Why did he go to the engine room first? Whatever, he made a mistake, but now’s the time to correct it. He found the controls that he needed to make the boat go forward, which would result in it crashing into the shore towards the center of the USJ, where he could just barely make out Aizawa still fighting, and Shigaraki and that person were still standing there, just watching. Kurogiri had joined them as well. 

As soon as he started up the boat, there was a crunching noise. He ran out of the control room to see that the villain with the water arm quirk had done some serious damage to the boat, meaning it wouldn’t move forward. Dammit. Now not only was the boat damaged, but they couldn’t move to the shore as well.

He ran out to where he had left Asui, and she was going along the deck, looking around for other people.

“Asui, have you seen anyone yet?”

“No.” She replied. “I don’t see anyone, Kero. I think we’re the only ones here.”

“Alright, well we need to get to shore. I think I have a plan for that.”

“I have a theory.” She spoke up. “I don’t think that they know what our quirks are.”

“Are you sure?” He asked. It seemed unlikely, but it could be possible.

“I said that I’d be at home in a flood. If they knew my quirk, they’d put me in the fire zone.” She pointed in the direction of the fire zone.

She was right! It’s the only thing that made sense!

“That’s a great observation A-Tsuyu. This makes our job easier.”

* * *

The only reason why they would move him to another location was if they had people on standby to capture him, so the moment his right foot touched the ground, he spread his ice along it, rushing it along and encasing the nearby criminals in ice. He saw them struggle to escape.

“You really think you can defeat All Might when you can’t even defeat a single hero student?” He approached the closest villain, melting the ice just enough to allow them to talk. “Hypothermia will set in soon, so you better be quick in your response.”

The villain only spat at him. It was easy enough to dodge, but still. “I’ll make sure to give your name to Stain.” The villain growled out. “You really are a fake hero.”

“When you become a villain, you can’t judge who’s a hero or not. You’ll find excuses, dig up just one thing they did wrong, use that as an excuse to attack them, just because you want to see someone hurt.

“Now, how are you going to kill All Might?”

* * *

Tokoyami stood up from where he had been dropped. It was the storm zone, the cold rain and small bits of hail pounding into his cloak. The zone was pretty dark, meaning that Dark Shadow was strengthened. He needed to find if there was anyone else in this zone with him, and then leave to find people in other zones. This felt like a diversion. That one villain with the teleportation mist quirk had mentioned they were trying to kill All Might, meaning that he was probably thrown in here to prevent distractions from complicating their goals. Because whatever combination of people they gathered to fight All Might (because seriously, there’s not a single hero, villain, or civilian he could think of that was able to fight All Might solo), would likely fall apart when faced with hero students with quirks they didn’t know.

Because if they did know his quirk, he’d be in the zone that was on fire. An air blast that blew past him as he was running caused him to turn around. He saw a group of two or three villains, two with mutation quirks and the one in the lead was the one who had obviously shot the air blast.

“Dark Shadow!” He called out, his quirk emerging. “Let’s crush these villains!”

 **“Yeees.”** Dark Shadow replied, charging forward at the villains, ignoring the air blast and slamming into the villain in the front, cutting off the air blast. Dark Shadow then charged at the other villains, slamming them into the ground.

“Hey, Tokoyami!” He turned around to see Ojiro hanging upside down by his tail on a lamppost. “I didn’t expect to see anyone else here!”

“Well, we were scattered randomly it seems, we should try to find other people in this zone if they’re here.”

“Good idea Tokoyami.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excerpts from Midoriya’s Quirk Notes: Lethal Intent.
> 
> Aoyama: His naval laser is strong enough that if he used it on someone repeatedly, It could cause burns and if sustained further, melt flesh.  
> Ashido: Sufficiently powerful acid will melt through skin and the rest of the body.  
> Asui: Various. Strangualation with tongue, repeatedly jumping on someone, using tongue to hold a knife to stab someone?.  
> Iida: This is a difficult one. Holding someone’s face to the exhaust pipes on his legs? Needs more work.  
> Uraraka: Same technique as what she did for the ball. All it took was a tap and they would float away.  
> Ojiro: Another difficult one. Tail Strangulation? Blunt-force impact tail slap?  
> Kaminari: Electrocution. Obvious enough.  
> Kirishima: Hardening quirk sufficiently powerful to kill with physical blows.  
> Koda: If Koda can control insects, then venomous insects stinging. If not, then any large predator.  
> Sato: Strong enough to beat someone to death with physical blows.  
> Jiro: Sufficiently powerful vibrations can cause severe internal injuries.  
> Sero: Strangulation with tape, peraps suffocation as well.  
> Tokoyami: Easy One. Dark Shadow’s powerful enough to kill someone easily, even in the daytime.  
> Todoroki: Blunt impact from ice, also victim suffering hypothermia from being encased in ice.  
> Hagakure: This one’s a real stumper. The only thing I can think of is using it indirectly, an aid in killing. Maybe she can do more with it? Only time will tell.  
> Bakugo: There’s a reason grenades are used in warfare. Although less lethal than a grenade, not having the fragments, there’s still the heat and the shockwave impact.  
> Mineta: whoops, he’s not a classmate anymore. No need for this.  
> Yaoyorozu: Creation of knife or gun.


	29. Target

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> USJ part 2: the second part.  
> Also the eye deal is brought up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Canon-typical violence.  
> Yeah, this USJ incident isn't changed much. Hopefully I changed enough so that it's different enough that it doesn't get flagged as having "too much canon content."  
> Which is the reason why a lot of "watch the show" fics are difficult to watch.  
> Also: My favorite character is Tokoyami, which is why you will see a lot more of him in my story then in canon. I don't write the rules, just this story, and I want more of my favorite birb.  
> Like seriously, he placed third in the sports festival (even though it was daytime, when he was weaker), interned with Hawks (#3-#2 hero, depending on the time), and during the Training Camp, he managed to beat a villain that Todoroki was struggling against. And something else happened in the most recent chapters of the manga.  
> All I'm saying is Tokoyami needs more appreciation. And I'm ready and willing to give him said appreciation :)

Tokoyami was surprised about how effective him and Ojiro were when working as a team. Dark Shadow seemed to know the best way to assist Ojiro, blocking villains who were in his tailed classmates' way.

A villain with three twisted horns charged his way. Ojiro was engaging with a villain who also had a tail, so it was up to him and Dark Shadow to take out this horned villain. Dark Shadow pretty quickly took the villain out, it seemed like the villain’s only quirk was his horns.

“Ojiro, the mist villain said they were going to take out All Might, right?” He asked. Ojiro finished off the villain that he was fighting, easily outmaneuvering the other tailed villain.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure that one villain did. What about it?” Ojiro asked in turn.

“Well, these villains we’re taking down aren’t that powerful at all. In fact, they’re pretty weak. Are they going to take down All Might with numbers? That won’t work.”

“Maybe it’s not.” Ojiro replied. “Maybe these villains are just to serve as distractions.”

“Maybe so.” He replied. “But we should still search this zone to make sure that everyone is safe. This is supposed to be rescue training, after all. Maybe we can learn from this.”

The villains in the zone were pretty easily dispatched, to the point where they stopped approaching the two of them and kept a distance.

“Ojiro, do not engage the villains if they don’t engage us first. It will only slow us down.” He explained. The storm zone was pretty large, so if there’s someone here they may have taken shelter indoors.

Once again, he was thankful for Dark Shadow. His quirk wasn’t affected by things like low light, or rain, and was actually strengthened in the low light of the storm zone. Plus, his costume was designed with situations like this in mind, his cloak was protected against the elements, and his boots were designed for rough terrain. Ojiro wasn’t outfitted like he was, the cloth of his costume was soaked at this point.

A bird flew overhead, expertly flying in the downpour, it noticed them and then flew away very deliberately in a straight line for a bit, and then continued it’s expert flight.

“I think that bird is Koda’s,” He said. He had limited experience with Koda’s quirk, but all he gathered was that it controlled or influenced animals to some degree. He'd seen some animals during the entrance exam acting strangely. “Let’s head in the direction of the bird, I think Koda has also been trying to reach out and find us.”

“I agree with you. Maybe then we can get inside so we’re out of the rain.” Ojiro replied. “Where is all of this rain coming from anyways?”

“The storm drains in this area probably cycle up to the ceiling and rain down, if I were to guess.” He said.

The villains didn’t bother them at all, which was strange, but they were probably just hiding indoors, most likely not having rain protection gear. The bird showed up occasionally, a bright orange-red spot standing out from the blues and greys of the storm zone. It flew to their position, made it fairly obvious it was from Koda, and then flew back to Koda.

It took three more flights of the bird coming out and returning before they found the building Koda was residing in. Koda had made it obvious that he was there, a bunch of animals were around the area. The two of them ran inside, the door was unlocked, so they went inside.

Koda was standing at the end of the hallway of the building, animals at the ready.

“Is there anyone else in this zone?” He asked. “Because if there is, I’ll go out and find them.”

Instead of replying, Koda burst out into sign. He didn’t understand sign, but he looked over and saw that Ojiro seemed to understand.

“Koda is saying that there’s one other person in the zone, heading this way.” Ojiro said after a pause for translation.

“Alright. Since my costume is mostly waterproof I’ll go out and find this last person. What direction should I head from the building?” He asked. From what he could tell, Koda wasn’t deaf, he was just mute.

Koda signed again in response, and Ojiro translated. “Koda says there isn’t really a need, because he’s here now.”

Two seconds later, the door opened to reveal Shoji, whose white hair was slicked back due to the rain. “I found a switch to cut off the rain.” He said, after taking a short breath. “But whoever designed it didn’t really intend for it to be used from the inside, it’s too far up for me to reach.”

“I’ll go and have Dark Shadow turn it off.” He spoke. “He should be able to reach it.” At the mention of his name, Dark Shadow came out of him. **“Yeah! I’ll be able to reach it!”**

“But what about being ambushed?” Ojiro asked. “I mean, there’s still villains out there, it’s dangerous out there.”

“Dark Shadow can act as a second set of eyes for me.” He replied. “Right?”

 **“Of course, Fumikage! I got your back!”** Dark Shadow replied in turn. **“Now, let’s get this rain turned off! It feels weird.”**

Well, today he learned that Dark Shadow felt weird in the rain. Huh, that’s something new. He opened the door and looked out into the rain, an equally strong downpour as before. Why wouldn’t it be, though? It’s artificial, so it would be far easier to just have a constant downpour. And as much as his cloak protected his body, it didn’t protect his head. His feathers were better protection then something like hair, but it was still pretty annoying to have wet feathers.

True to his word, Dark Shadow kept constant guard around him, head swishing around, looking every which way.

It took him only a minute or so to get to where the switch was. True to what Shoji had said, the switch was about seven meters up. “Dark Shadow, can you get the switch?”

 **“I can!”** Dark Shadow replied, and went up and flicked the switch. It took about ten seconds, but the rain quickly died down from a downpour to nothing. He ran back to the building where Shoji, Ojiro and Koda were.

They had left the building, and were standing outside. “What are we going to do now?” He asked. “Our classmates could be in danger.”

“Well then, we really should go and see if they need help.”

* * *

Aizawa Shota thought this was too easy.

Dispatching these villains, no, they shouldn’t even be called villains, they’re more like criminals, was proving to be far too easy. They relied too much on their quirks, so in the span of about two minutes, they were all dispatched.

Sure their communications were out, but Iida had apparently escaped, so help was coming soon. But there were two villains just standing in the center, by the fountain, waiting.

“Twenty-one.” A low, scratchy voice said, something he could just barely hear. He looked at the villain covered in hands, the only person who could’ve said that. Underneath the guy’s hand he noticed that he was grinning. So it was this villain covered in hands. Why did he say 21? Nevermind that, there’s still about a dozen criminals to take out. He was stretching his quirk to it’s limit, so he had to blink.

When he blinked, the villain said “Nineteen.” with a similar grin.

And that’s when he realized the guy was tracking how long it took him to blink. This villain was pretty smart and observant. Once he’s done with mopping up these criminals, he’ll focus on the villain covered in the (hopefully fake but probably real) hands.

“Sixteen.” The villain said. And the villain also seemed to identify his biggest weakness. Damn this guy was smart. Still, he whipped his capture cloth around, taking out the final four criminals in short order.

“You really are amazing, Eraserhead.” The villain said. “Your quirk is pretty powerful, but it has a pretty big weakness. You need to blink eventually. Those glasses of yours prevent people from seeing who you’re looking at, and your capture cloth is an excellent short and medium range weapon. A shame you don’t use a gun, Eraserhead, you’d be far more effective.”

He had used a gun once or twice in his job, and when he was doing a specific mission, he was authorized to carry a pistol.

“Unfortunately, All Might isn’t here.” the villain said. “And All Might’s our endgame. That’s fine, we can have side objectives. I spread out your students among the zones, where there are villains waiting for them. I told the villains to try for the kill. Do you think that they’re going to survive, Eraserhead.”

He couldn’t believe it, he needed to engage this villain. He blinked, and in the span of when he blinked, the villain charged forward, moving surprisingly fast. He extended his capture cloth, but he had to blink again, and he saw that the villain had grabbed his capture cloth, and it turned to dust in his grasp. A powerful quirk, one of decay. He should be careful then, to erase this villain’s quirk at the right moment.

He lashed out with his capture weapon again, but the villain evaded it. He ended up in a position where his elbow slammed into the villain. A sharp pain came from his other elbow. He looked over to see that the villain had used his quirk on his other elbow, decaying the skin, and even some of the muscle beneath it. “There’s no way I’ll let you harm my students.”

It hurt like hell, but he needed to push through it. If he wrapped it up here, he could protect his students. He blinked again, and restored his quirk. He slammed his good elbow and a knee into the villain, and then grabbed him with this capture cloth, squeezing them tight and then slamming him into the ground again. The villain managed to slice through his capture cloth, in the little more than a second between his quirk activating.

The villain then scrambled away. “I take it back, Eraserhead, you’re one of the best heroes out there. I’d allow you to live in this new world. But you oppose me, so be it. I tire of fighting you.” The villain then turned to the hulking black-skinned villain beside him, the one with an exposed brain. He turned his quirk onto whatever it was. “Nomu, take out that hero.”

“Nomu” or whatever it was called, went after him. Fast. And he had erased it’s quirk.

“Sure you can erase quirks, Eraserhead.” The villain covered in hands said. “But Nomu is special, he has many more quirks than just the one.”

Nomi then grabbed his arm, twisting it and turning it, and then slamming his head into the ground. Pain radiated throughout his entire body. Sharp, piercing pain that he couldn’t shrug off. He had never tried to erase multiple quirks before, because he had never experienced multiple quirks being in the same person. He blinked quickly, and then focused his quirk more on Nomu. He could sense quirk factors, to a degree, merely the presence of one (or, rarely, the lack of one) He had felt that Nomu was odd, but now he knew why. There were multiple quirk factors.

He focused more, shutting down the quirks one by one, until he saw Nomu’s quirk factor was gone entirely.

Nomu still managed to slam his head into the ground again, arm creaking. All the quirks gone and it could still do this? He was trapped, he knew it at this point. Thirteen was incapacitated, his students nowhere to be seen, and he wouldn’t want them to be anywhere near this monstrous creature anyway.

So now what? What is he supposed to do now.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the flood zone, and he saw that Asui and Midoriya were at the very edge, looking at him.

If he could send a message to them, he would most certainly tell them to _run._ The main villain could disintegrate things he can touch, and there’s Nomu and that one villain with the teleportation quirk.

“Well, I said I would kill some kids, and look what we have here.” The villain covered in hands said aloud. Dammit, the villain also noticed Midoriya and Asui. The Nomu slammed his head into the ground yet again, so he couldn’t even see what was going on, but he knew that the main villain would aim for the kill. So he struggled as much as he could, bracing his free arm, or more accurately his freer arm, underneath his head and raised his head, just barely enough to see the villain covered in hands, just about to reach out to lay his hand on Asui. But he activated his quirk at just the right time, meaning that when the hand villain’s hand touched Asui’s face, it did nothing. The hand villain looked surprised, and then Midoriya went in for a punch, managing to land a blow on the hand villain, making him sprawl back. Midoriya went in for a second punch, but Shota felt the massive pressure of the Nomu release from him. Of course that wasn’t a good thing at all, because that meant that Nomu was somewhere else, most likely at Midoriya.

A storm of dust came up, and when it cleared, Nomu had blocked Midoriya’s punch.

“You just keep surprising me Eraserhead. Stain and Kira probably consider you a real hero.” The hand villain said.

“How would you know?” He just barely managed to ask, because even though Nomu was gone, every single nerve was firing, shooting pain through him.

“Well, I talk to Stain regularly.” The hand villain said, then gesturing to the warp villain. “Warp Gate here helps me out by selecting scenic locations all around the world for conversations.”

 **“Never fear, for I am here!”** A booming voice yelled out. He just so barely managed to look to see who it was.

All Might was here, and he wasn’t smiling.

* * *

The villains portal released her about a foot into the air, so she ended up tumbling to the ground. And to make it worse, the ground was stony, so the stones cut into her arms and legs. Even so, she managed to get back up. The one villain with the teleportation quirk had split them up for some reason. Probably to distract them from something…

“Yaoyorozu!” A girl's voice called out. She looked closer at it and saw that it was Jiro.

She produced two staves, one for her and one for Jiro, because she had a feeling of danger. A second later she saw Kaminari stumble out through the portal onto the ground. She created a third staff and threw it his way.

He failed to catch it, the staff slipping through his hands, and it clattered on the ground. “Whoops.” Kaminari said, picking up the dropped staff. “I’m pretty clumsy. Why did you make these staves anyways?”

“Well, I felt a sense of danger, and that warp villain didn’t separate us out for a reason, so there’s probably more villains in this area.” She explained. “I don’t know how good you are with your quirk, so you can use this for defence.”

“Thanks, Yaoyorozu!” He replied, and the three of them readied their staves. Her intuition turned out to be correct, because all sorts of villains came out from behind rocks and emerged up the mountainside.

There was a cluster of villains that seemed to have speed quirks, because they were moving forward faster. The three of them swung their staves, knocking into the villains.

“Kaminari!” Jiro called out. “Electrocute them!”

“But the ground isn’t conductive!” He yelled in response.

“Don’t worry, that won’t be a problem.” Jiro replied, kicking him into one of the villains. The shock of this must’ve activated his quirk instinctively, because the villain got shocked and fell to the ground.

“Yeah!” He yelled out. “I can do this! You girls can just rely on me!”

A group of four or five villains came from the other direction. “I’ll take care of this.” Jiro said, her ear extension jacks slipping into slots on her boots. “I’ve got speakers in my boots, that means I can channel my heartbeat out in waves. Heartbeat Wave!” She called out, sound waves coming from her boots, disrupting the ground and making the villains fall over.

She had been thinking about a plan. Kaminari was actually pretty powerful. A plan was forming in her mind.

“Jiro, Kaminari, I think I have a plan.” She said. “Jiro, couch down beside me.” Jiro did as she asked. Alrighty, now she needs to create something larger. 100mm insulation blanket. It took a few seconds, but it eventually popped out of her back. “Kaminari! Fire off your largest power blast!”

“Got it!” He yelled out. “1.1 Million volts!” He yelled out as the blanket descended over her and Jiro. She had created the blanket just so it wouldn’t rip her costume. Maybe she should think about a costume redesign. Her mother knew someone in the media, and it had been her that recommended the costume for “Media appeal.” The sounds of the electricity stopped, and after a second more she raised the blanket. Seeing the coast was clear, she fully raised the blanket.

All the villains had been knocked over, and Kaminari was standing in the middle, murmuring something and lazily walking around. Alright, so she just had to look after Kaminari for a bit.

That’s when a villain leapt out from behind a rock, and grabbed Kaminari, electricity crackling on his hands. “Alrighty kiddies, you just put down your weapons and surrender, and I’ll let this idiot go.” She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Jiro was trying to connect her earjacks to her boots.

“I see what you’re doing, little girl.” The villain said, bringing the electric blast closer to Kaminari. “I get it, you’re young hero hopefuls, you watch those movies where there’s a clever trick you can pull. But there’s none of that here, little girls, you just need to do as I say, and nobody needs to get hurt.

What does she do? What does she do?

* * *

Aoyama just barely managed to avoid a burning building when he landed in what was most likely the fire zone. He hated fire! Sure it was beautiful to look at, but he really didn’t want to be surrounded by the stuff. And there were villains also! Thankfully they were pretty weak, and he could take them out easily with his naval laser. Clearly, they couldn’t stand up for long against his magnificent and sparkly costume!

“Hey! Aoyama!” A girl’s voice called out. The only people that knew his name were his classmates, these unstylish villains called him “Laser boy.” Such a boring nickname! Not magnificent after all! He looked around to find the source of the voice, but didn’t see anyone.

“It’s me, Hagakure!” The voice said again, and he looked over and saw a floating pair of gloves. Oh, he forgot that Hagakure was invisible, and she couldn’t turn it off. 

“Alright! We should work together!” He said.

“Yeah! Together we can do this!” She replied.

* * *

The portal felt weird going through. It felt cold and slippery, but he eventually emerged through it and crashed into a random ruined building. Thankfully his quirk activated on instinct, and he didn’t get hurt.

He looked up and saw that Bakugo was in the same room, and there were also villains in the room as well.

“Hey Bakubro! Let’s team up and take these villains out.” He said.

“Tch. I can do this myself, support me if you want.”

This was the first time he had seen Bakubro not being angry. “Hey Bakubro, I didn’t know you could actually be calm.”

“THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN? I’M ALWAYS CALM!” Bakubro yelled out, palms exploding at a villain.

“Sure you are.” He replied, slamming a hardened fist into another villain.

“STOP TALKING AND START FIGHTING!”

“Ok dude.” He said. Still, he did get to beat up villains.

The two of them ended up beating up all of the villains in the area, Bakubro managing to find an invisible villain.

“Let’s leave this place, so I can punch some more villains in the face.”

* * *

“All Might, you still managed to nearly run out of time before your class.” Nezu said. “While you're still a hero, you’re a teacher first. There are plenty of heroes in our society, as Kira and Stain constantly remind us.”

“I understand.” He said, admonished. He couldn’t help but jump in to save people. He sort of forgot that there were other heroes. “Well, I am going to make an appearance at the end of the lesson anyways.”

“That should be good enough.” Nezu replied. “Although, I haven’t gotten a message from Thirteen yet, although Thirteen can get a bit overenthusiastic about his job…”

At that point the door slammed open, revealing young Iida in full costume. He felt the warm trickle of blood coming out of his mouth. “Principal Nezu! Uh...:” Iida trailed off.

“Yagi Toshinori, All Might’s personal secretary.” He introduced himself, wiping his jaw with a handkerchief Nezu passed him.

“There are villains at the USJ!” Iida finished.

“Iida, can you go run and get Midnight? She’s currently teaching Class 1-G right now. I trust you know where this is?” Nezu said firmly.

“Yes! I can get there almost immediately.” Iida replied.

“Go. I’ll reach the other teachers.” Nezu said, and Iida did race off.

“Do you have enough energy in you?”

“Ye **s!”** He called out, transforming into his buff form mid-word. **“I will be there to rescue the students!”** He added as he ran out of the window, discarding his suit jacket.

* * *

“Nomu! Kill All Might!” Shigaraki yelled out.

Izuku watched as the Nomu creature leapt away from him and went after All Might. Throughout this entire battle, he hadn’t ever seen Shigaraki give the Nomu a kill command, only an attack command.

But All Might could handle it, right? Of course.

He saw Eraserhead, mangled and destroyed on the ground. He needed to help his teacher. “Tsu, come help me!” He called out, gesturing to their teacher on the ground. “Quick! Get some sticks!” He didn’t really have a clue of what he was doing, but he read somewhere that he needed to make sure that the injured person didn’t move. He activated a small amount of One for All, just to make sure that any unexpected shifts in weight didn’t occur, and he slowly, over the course of about a minute, moved Aizawa until he was laying on the ground. As much as he liked his costume, there were lives on the line. He took off the outer jacket of his hero costume, and pulled it apart with One for All until he got large segments of fabric, which he used to wrap up what he could get without disturbing the broken arms. He used the sticks to stabilize everything. Dammit, he really did need to do first aid training and not just watch random video clips.

“Tsu, if you could wait with Tadeki-sensei, make sure he doesn’t move, even if he insists that he needs to get up. He can’t do anything with his eyes and arms the way they are. And All Might is here anyways.” He explained.

“Are you sure All Might is enough? I mean, they said that Nomu could kill All Might.” Tsuyu replied. He looked over to see Nomu and All Might locked in combat. There was dust and shock waves coming off of their fight. Dammit Dammit Dammit, what is he supposed to do? If only he knew even one of the three villains’ real names, then he could turn the tide ever so slightly in the battle, and everyone could live. But he didn’t, so that option was out of the question.

“Ya know, there is a way for you to find out the villain’s real name.” Ryuk said from beside him. Oh yeah, he had almost forgotten about the Shinigami, the past fifteen minutes or so had been very hectic.

“Really?” He asked, as he was running to the nearest zone he saw, the Landslide Zone. Thankfully he was out of earshot of everyone, so only Ryuk could hear him.

“Well, there are two differences between a human that owns a Death Note, and a Shinigami. Do you want to know what they are?”

“Yes, I do, but if you could make this quick that’d be great. We’re kinda at a time crunch here.” He was running normally, not using One for All, just for some extra time to talk to Ryuk.

“So the first difference is that we get the extra lifespan of someone killed by the Note. for example, if someone was destined to live to 70, and I write their name when they’re 40, I would be able to live 30 extra years. Humans don’t get this benefit.” Ryuk explained.

“I mean, it’s a possibility that someone who thinks their quirkless has that as their quirk.”

“Oh? Could that be a possibility for you?”

“Nope.” He replied. “Got tested like five times, no quirk factor whatsoever. Anyway, what’s the second thing?”

“Well the second thing is that a Shinigami can see the names and lifespans of humans. It’s pretty useful for when you need to find someone quick to kill.”

“So what’s the point of that? I already know you’re not going to help me out.”

“Well, there’s a deal we’re allowed to do with humans, where you can get the eyes of a Shinigami, so you can see the names and lifespans of humans.”

“I presume there’s a cost for such a grand power.” Sure he could scour the quirk registry trying to find someone who’s quirk allowed them to see people’s real name, but that depended on the cost of the power Ryuk was offering.

“It’ll cost one half of your remaining lifespan. So if you’ve got sixty years left, it’ll be thirty. Only a single year? Six more months.”

“And I presume I won’t be told the amount of life I have left?”

“Nope.”

He thought about it. There was a very real possibility he only had minutes left to live, that Shigaraki would kill him. And that would be just the type of thing Ryuk would pull. But even if he got out of this alive, then he would spend the rest of his (shortened) life feeling nervous about when he would die.

“I’m going to refuse for now, although I’ll keep that offer in mind.”

At this point, he could see the exits for both the landslide zone and the ruins zone, from the former out ran Todoroki and Ashido, and from the ladder, came Bakugo and Kirishima.

“All might and a villain that the other villains called Nomu are fighting.” He said.

“We should help him.” Todoroki said, before running off.

“Like fuck ya think I’m going to let you have all the glory.” Bakugo yelled, running after him, Kirishima following close after. Well, he had no choice but to follow. He knew already that Bakugo was stubborn, and Todoroki looked like he was just as stubborn. Well he might as well go along with them so they don’t get killed.

“Are you sure you don’t want the eye deal now?” Ryuk asked.

He shook his head. He’ll manage plenty fine without the eye deal. Their little group eventually ran into All Might fighting Nomu, and when All Might went for a suplex, Kurogiri opened a portal, and then Nomu and All Might were in two different spots. Kurogiri moved to close the portal, but Bakugo held him down by his metal collar. “Don’t even think about moving, ya damn mist guy, or I’ll blow this collar to kingdom come!”

How Bakugo found out about the collar was beyond him. Maybe he saw it when he charged Kurogiri. Of course, there was still the problem of Nomu, who was currently holding All Might, digging into where he knew All Might’s weak spot was. Damn.

Thankfully, Todoroki came to All Might’s help, sending his ice along the Nomu so it didn’t reach All Might, but All Might was freed from the portal.

“You seriously think that you can harm All Might like this? This is pathetic.” Eventually the Nomu broke free of the ice, but half of its body was destroyed. There was twisting and an ugly squelching noise, and then Nomu rapidly regenerated its body.

“Nomu here has several quirks All Might. Shock absorption, regeneration, enhanced strength, it’s designed to be a superhuman punching bag that can take whatever you can throw at it. Even your full power won’t be anything against it!”

 **“Well, I’ll just have to use more power then!”** All Might yelled out, and he watched as All Might layed down punch after punch, laying it into Nomu. **“If it’s power is shock absorption not shock nullification, then there’s a limit to what it can absorb. I’ll push beyond that.”**

The punches increased in speed and intensity. **“Hear these words, villains, and hear them well! I’ll show you what it really means to be a hero! Go beyond!!!”** Izuku watched as All Might was readying a massive punch.

 **“PLUS…”** The punch impacted on Nomu, the ground cracked underneath All Might, and Nomu started glowing orange-red. **“ULLLTTRAAA!!!!”**

The punch threw Nomu into the air, crashed into the dome at USJ, tearing a massive hole in the outer dome, and it soared far beyond to the point where Izuku couldn’t see it anymore.

 **“Now you see villains, what it means to be a hero!”** All Might exclaimed. Izuku looked over to see that Shigaraki was shaking. “No fair… this isn’t how the game was supposed to go. This isn’t fair!”

Seriously? Was Shigaraki really acting this childish? He watched as All Might and Shigaraki were in a face-off, Kurogiri somehow got himself free from Bakugo and was standing beside Shigaraki.

“Whatever, we’ll find a way around this. K-Warp Gate, we’re leaving this level. We need higher-level NPC’s. Maybe we can get some from St-”

The sound of a bullet being fired came down from somewhere, and Shigaraki had been shot in the hand. Another shot, another bullet hole in the hand. Two more shots, two more bullets, this time in the knees, which knocked Shigaraki to the ground. Three more shots ran out, but Kurogiri blocked the way.

There was a fourth bullet that went somewhere, and when Kurogiri vanished, the two villains were gone. Were they not going to have the victory meeting now that it wasn’t a victory?

“Hey All Might! Are you ok?” He turned around to see Kirishima running down. He looked where All Might was. All might was in thin mode now. Thankfully, Cementoss built a wall. “All Might is fine, Kirishima. Midoriya, if you could get back to your class.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Gilding
> 
> Important Announcement:  
> While I'll try to maintain my normal update schedule (2 ~4k chapters a week), my life got quite a bit busier. I got a new job that's pretty strenuous, so I'll have less time to write.  
> Like I said, I'll try to keep up this pace, but in the occasion I have to slow down, would you guys prefer:  
> A) A single ~4k chapter a week  
> B) Two ~2k chapters a week  
> Anyway, leave your answer in the comments section, as well as any sort of comments, criticisms, or random things or thoughts you may have in your head! I love hearing random ideas and jokes!


	30. Gilded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of USJ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To that one person who wanted Mido to take a more active role here ya go.

Apparently UA still wanted to have a show of strength, so he was still allowed to leave for the weekend, especially because they cancelled classes for the next day. It could also be that this could be counted as a victory for good, because eighty-seven villains in total were captured, including the Nomu creature, and now Shigaraki was back to square one, with just himself, Kurogiri, Breakin, and the two traitors, whoever they were.

He was currently sitting in a waiting room, ready to be asked a few questions from Hound Dog, the schools counselor. The thought of the eye deal was floating around in his head. If he accepted the eye deal, his remaining lifespan would be cut in half, he would spend so many hours thinking about how many moments he had left before he would fall. But if he did accept the eye deal, he could find out Shigaraki’s real name, as well as Kurogiri, Breakin, and even All for One, he could fulfill what he had been destined for…

But then again, Ryuk had told him along the way that “The eyes are the windows to the soul, if you can’t see both of someone’s eyes, then you can’t identify them and thus can’t see their name. Even I can’t. Why bother going after someone with sunglasses when there’s dozens of people without?”

So it wouldn’t work against Kurogiri, who had mist covering his body, All for One, who he hadn’t even seen in person, and Breakin, who wore a motorcycle helmet.

But what about Shigaraki? Was it worth it for just one villain? What was he supposed to do? He didn’t have anyone in his corner, a confidant, someone he could _trust_ with his life.

There’s nobody he can trust with this, the people who knew him at UA would most likely spill his secret to a teacher, and then T would find him and it was all over.

T would be the type of person to gloat over him as he was being carted away to Tartarus, lambasted as the villain society saw him as instead of the hero he really was. Although, people would probably think he wasn’t being serious, and maybe he could get free, as long as the Death Note wasn’t found, there was no evidence against him.

So what is he supposed to do now? There were branching paths ahead of him, every choice seemed the wrong choice, no matter what he would choose innocent people would die. Is this what being a hero really is like? Having to choose between two wrong choices? Endless Kobayashi Maru no-win scenarios? Was this what Nezu was trying to teach them?

He realized he had been hyperventilating. Calm yourself Izuku. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breath out. Ok, think about this rationally Izuku, you have time to make this decision. You can talk to others about this, cloaking it in metaphor and example, hiding the ugly truth behind a gilded shell.

“Midoriya, come in please.” The voice of Hound Dog came in from the room, just as Ashido walked out, and down the hallway. After a short pause, he went in.

Hound Dog’s office was decorated very gently, soft light throughout the entire place, comfortable couches, and even the very air seemed comforting.

“Midoriya, out of everyone here, you were involved in the USJ incident the most. Did you want to talk about anything?” Hound Dog asked him.

Here’s his chance to share his “Hypothetical” question. “Well there’s been something that’s been bothering me ever since the USJ incident.”

“What is it, Midoriya?”

“During the fight, I had an opportunity to make a risky decision that could potentially save lives.” A true statement, technically, if intentionally vague. “I keep thinking back to it and if I made the wrong choice, if maybe I could’ve prevented people from getting hurt.”

He watched as Hound Dog sat back, and then crossed his hands on his lap. “You’re a student, Midoriya. Of course being a hero means you have to make tough choices like this, but you’re still a young student. You shouldn’t have to make these choices this quickly.”  
“I know, but it’s still important.”

“It’s important?” Hound Dog asked him.

“It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.” He folded his hands in front of him. “Ever since Principal Nezu’s first and second ethics classes, I’ve been thinking about no-win scenarios. And with what happened in the USJ, I experienced a no win scenario when it came to that one villain with the disintegration quirk. It’s… something I'm already thinking about.”

“Well, I’d consider this a win. Think about it. We arrested ninety-one villains today, and none of your classmates were seriously hurt.”

“But what about Takeda-sensei and Thirteen? They got seriously hurt?” He asked.

“They’re your teachers, Midoriya, they are supposed to protect you. Eraserhead knew what he was doing when he rushed in to defeat those villains. It’s good to be worried for them, but you shouldn’t worry. They’re at the hospital in stable condition.”

“So they’re all good now?” He asked.

“Yes. They are all ok. Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“I think that’s everything, thank you Hound Dog.”

“No problem Midoriya, that’s what I’m here for after all. Anytime my office door is open I’ll be able to have a conversation.”

“I might take you up on that offer.”

“Please do, your mental health is important.”

* * *

 **Midoriya:** I think we should tell Eraserhead.

**Yagi:** About what, young Midoriya?

**Midoriya:** You-know-what.

**Yagi:** Are you sure that’s wise, young Midoriya?

**Midoriya:** I mean, Gran knows, and he was your homeroom teacher, so it only makes sense.

**Yagi:** I suppose, but it’s going to be a while before he can talk.

**Midoriya:** I suppose.

* * *

**Izuku:** Hey mom, how was your day?

**Mamadoriya:** How was your day? You were attacked by villains!

**Izuku:** Well, it wasn’t too bad. I mean, our teachers were pretty hurt, but we’re fine.

**Mamadoriya:** Well Kamui Woods’ agency has gotten pretty busy, and Kamui Woods is going to the CAU to discuss joint hero work. I’m going with him so I’ll be gone until Tuesday. You’re going to be fine, right?

**Izuku:** Yeah, I’ll be fine. Dw.

**Mamadoriya:** If anything happens, call or text me OK?

**Izuku:** Okay mom.

* * *

So his mom was gone for the weekend, which meant he could join Shigaraki’s so-called “victory meeting”, which was probably going to be a bit shorter due to Shigaraki’s wounds.

He had upgraded his Seishin costume, making some distinct changes so it was more different from his hero costume. It consisted of a black helmet with a visor, complete with a ventilator that distorted his speech on purpose. There were angelic-looking wings, small enough they weren’t noticeable unless someone was pretty close.

Other than the helmet, the rest of the costume was pretty simple, although it did add a bit of hardened armor to his knees, elbows, forearms, and feet. The armor was pure white, without any markings or embellishments whatsoever, but the fabric beneath was black. Simple and effective, aside from the helmet. It was surprising what you can get on the black market.

He was currently on the train back home at this point. About half of his class was going to visit home, probably for two reasons; the USJ incident and this was the first week at the dorms. Maybe he can use this to head up to Hokkaido and finish up investigating the Numbers group by getting information from Twenty-seven, also known as Kanteyama Tsukiota. He had double checked the information he had, and this man was indeed Twenty-seven. (The supervillain, not the age, although he also happened to be 27, so that’s fun.)

He had a plan, which was good, because not having a plan means you’ll probably fail. But he’ll worry about Twenty-Seven later, his first task was meeting up with whoever among the League was still around, as well as Stain’s group. It might go well, it might not, it depends.

The train was pretty loud, so he had his earbuds in and he was listening to some podcast that covered news events.

_“This is Haji, host of Stranger than Fiction, where we cover strange events. Today we’re going to continue our Debate series by talking to someone who supports the ideology of Stain and Kira.”_

He knew that by using the Death Note when Stain was revealed, his name would inevitably be connected to Stain, but he wasn’t expecting nearly everyone to link his Kira name to Stain, the two of them mentioned in the same breath. Stain and Kira. Kira and Stain. Their names inevitably linked together. 

_“Now, don’t get out the pitchforks and torches just yet. It’s downplaying it severely to say that this is controversial. But you do know that I like to have both sides of an argument, and last week we had someone opposed to their arguments.”_

He remembered that episode, sorta. He skipped it so he didn’t understand much about it.

_“Anyway, this person has chosen to go under the alias of Jikori, and their voice is going to be distorted for their protection. While believing these things isn’t illegal yet, Jikori could very well be fired for this interview. Jikori are you there?”_

_“Yes, this is Jikori.”_ A distorted voice came from his earbuds. It was pretty similar to what T used. _“I’m glad I could be on your show, Haji.”_

_“Glad to have you, Jikori. Now, why did you support Stain and Kira? They’ve been pretty controversial over the past four months.”_

_“Of course.”_ Jikori replied. _“I know that. That is why I’m not using my name and even altering my voice.”_

_“Well, let’s get to business Jikori. What drove you to support Stain and Kira?”_

_“It all started three and a half months ago. Like most people, it took me a while before I saw the video.”_

_“The video?”_

_“When someone says ‘the video’, it pretty much always means the one video where Mechanicus MK6 thought he could fight Stain, and lost. The one video that has been reproduced thousands of times across hundreds of video sharing sites, hundreds of millions of people viewing it, downloading it onto their devices, sharing it on social media.”_

_“So what in the video made you think that Stain was right?”_

_“Stain brought up something I never thought about, shining a light in the dark place you never look. And then all the pieces fell together.”_

_“Very well then. Is there a closing statement you want to make?”_

_“I think I’ve made my point.”_

_“Very well, this is Haji. We’ll stop for a quick ad break, and then we’ll return to a story about a cat with a quirk!”_

Izuku turned off the podcast at that point. Sure animals having quirks were pretty rare, in fact the odds of it happening are almost literally one in a million. But he didn’t listen to Stranger than Fiction for stories about animals with quirks, he listened for stories about crazy things that happened all around the world, like the one guy in the Nigerian Empire who’s quirk allowed her to make anyone she wanted to love her, and how she died in a botched surgery to remove her Quirk.

He put his earbuds back into his pocket, and looked out at everyone in the train. It wasn’t _too_ packed, he could sit down if he wanted to, but instead he was leaning against a pole. However, there were a few people in the corner that didn’t look nice. Of course, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions, his mom bringing him to all sorts of homeless shelters for volunteer work. Maybe they were fired for some arbitrary reason, or because their boss was an asshole. Maybe they ran away from an abusive household (like he suspected Dabi did, he had seen enough similarities between the guy and the people he’s seen that ran from an abusive house). Or maybe some other reason. There’s dozens of ways people can get screwed over in life.

But as much as he hated having to be suspicious of them, the three of them walked up to him. They were talking in hushed tones, but he could pick up their voices, or at least some of them.

“...bet he’s rich.”

“UA brat’s are always loaded.”

Oh there going to try to mug him. Well good luck with that. They were all pretty physically large, but he would try to talk them down if possible.

“Hey! UA brat!” The guy in front, who had a clean-shaven head and a tank top, exposing tattoos on his arms, neck, and the top of his head.

“Hello, my name is Hikeda Shikudo.” He said, remembering one of the fake names he picked out, making sure to extend out his hand. “I’m a Business Course student at UA. Might I get your names?”

The guy in front slapped his hand away. “M’names Tamaki Ginto. A business course student, huh? Well, you see, me and my friends.” Tamaki pointed to each of his other “friends”. “Are pretty scrapped for cash, and I know you UA students are always pretty loaded. So if you could spare a couple of bucks our way, that’d be great.”

Huh, color him surprised. Sure this Tamaki was a bit rude about it, but he saw what it was like for these types of people.

“Sure, just give me a second.” He replied, taking a 2000 yen note from his pocket. “I’m actually not that rich myself, I didn’t grow up in the nicest part of Musutafu, but my family’s a bit better off now, so I’m happy to help!”

Tamaki seemed surprised, but he took the note anyways. “Thanks, dude, this should hold us off until tomorrow.” And then Tamaki and his two friends went back into the corner, bringing out small coins and talking about cheap foods to buy. 

Even though he knew what these people were really like, he couldn’t help but have prejudice against them. And this is a problem he’ll address as Kira later.

The three of them got off the stop before his own, the one stop that left off close to the bad parts of Musutafu. One stop before his own. He did a quick check on the news sites. Hawks managed to save 35 people from a collapsing building, over in America Captain Celebrity just lost his license in California, Oregon, Washington, Cascadia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Bicol, after someone with a hidden camera recorded him ignoring a villain attacking a hospital, bringing the total amount of states he was banned in to 53, and may spell the doom for him being a pro hero.

Maybe he _should_ write the hero’s name in the Death Note. Ignoring villains attacking a hospital was bad business.

The train stopped at his stop, and he got off. He looked around at the station, noticing the little things. The dirty corners, the odd bit of trash on the ground, things people wouldn’t notice unless they look. It brought him back to Dagobah Beach, where the garbage had been all piled up, and it had taken him seven months to get rid of it.

He should actually check back on the beach, he had seen trash cans there. Dagobah Beach was pretty close to his apartment, so he should check it out again to see if the beach is still clean, and maybe he could pick up some of the trash.

He made a quick stop at his home, changing out of his UA school uniform and into shorts and a t-shirt, just something that he can run in.

It was a five minute easy jog to Dagobah beach, passing by some of the nicer buildings on the way. The beach was pretty clean, but there was still some bottles or wrappers, and a piece of metal. So he walked down onto the sand, and started picking up some of the trash. As he was walking over to put the trash in the garbage can, he heard someone clearing their throat behind him. He threw the trash away and turned to see who had done that.

It was an older-looking man with white hair and a silvery-white cane with a flat bottom. He also had no lips, so his teeth were fully exposed. “Pardon my intrusion young man, but were you the one that cleaned or helped clean up this beach?” The guy asked, his voice slow and scratchy, as if it took him a lot of effort to speak.

“I am, sir.” He replied. “I did it as part of my training for UA.”

“Hero course?” The old man asked.

“Yes.”

“Well my grandson’s in the hero course. Maybe he’s in your class. You’re in 1-B?”

“No, 1-A.”

“Well, his name’s Honenuki Juzu, so if you ever meet him, try to make friends with him.”

That name sounded familiar, where had he heard it before?

“Oh! Yeah I recognize the name from the recommendation exam! He had that softening quirk, right?”

“Yup, that’s him. Well keep up the good work…”

“Midoriya, sir.”

“Keep being a hero, Midoriya.” And with that the old man left.

When he got back to his apartment, he put his main phone down on the table and then walked to his room and pulled out his burner phone.

There was a text message from Kurogiri on it.

 **PortalB4itwascool:** Meeting’s still on, please get here by 10.

Ah, so Shigaraki was still planning to host the meeting even though he got hurt pretty badly by Snipe. A testament to his determination, perhaps.

It was 4 right now, so he had about six hours until he had to be at the bar. He’ll eat a quick dinner, take the 7:10 train which went to the closest stop to the bar, and spend the remaining two and a half hours just waiting.

Turned out that the League had someone on their side that was a pretty good healer, or a doctor or something like that, because when he knocked on the door, in full Seishin costume, Shigaraki opened the door. When he picked it up from the guy that made it for him, apparently the guy said he wanted to make some changes (thankfully free of charge, because it was changes he thought looked good.) The costume actually had color now, the hard armor pieces had golden-colored patterns on them, and there was a gold and black collapsible staff on his back, as well as sheathes for three knives. The guy apparently really liked costume design, and threw several ideas at him about designs for his Seishin costume.

“Woah!” Toga said when he walked in. “You got a pretty snazzy costume Seishin!”

“Where’d you get such a cool costume from?” Dabi asked. “I mean, people can track that shit ya know.”

“I’ve thought about that, don’t worry.” He replied. “Anyway, is everyone here?”

A portal opened in the middle of the bar, and two people stepped out, the people that Shiggy said were their moles in UA.

“Everyone’s here now. Let’s get started with this meeting.” Shigaraki said.

* * *

The first thing that he noticed when stepping out of the portal was that Seishin had a changed costume, and definitely had the best costume there.

It almost looked like a hero costume.

“So, I’m sure you’re all aware of our little announcement to the world.” Shigaraki said. “That’s only the start.”

 _“From what I saw, the USJ incident was a pretty big failure. You lost over ninety subordinates, plus your elite Nomu, all for an announcement to the world? Now the school is toughening security and you're down quite a bit in terms of numbers, including a few elite fighters. What’s your plan for the future?”_ The voice of Seishin spoke, voice given a mechanical twang, probably from what looked like a filter assembly around his mouth.

“We have to wait, Seishin.” Shigaraki replied. “There will be an opportunity for action in the future. Stain, would you be opposed to going to Hosu and hunting fake heroes there?”

“I was planning on going there over the next week or so anyways, so I’ll go there.” Stain replied. “Why, do you have a plan in Hosu?”

“Yes. There aren’t really that many heroes based in Hosu, and there’s a lot of local villains over there. Plus, it’s just the next ward over, so it’s pretty close by.” Shigaraki explained. “I’ll see if I can integrate some of those groups into the League.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Dabi asked. “I lived in Hosu for about six years, the villains are all druggies and yakuza wannabes. I don’t think you want that sort of trash in your League.”

“Dabi’s right.” Spinner said. “Hosu’s not a place to recruit villains.”

“Still, Giran said there was someone in Hosu that we could recruit to our side.” Shigaraki explained. “Anyway, if you guys have anything to mention now’s the time.”

 _“So you don’t have any plans for the future, Shigaraki?”_ Seishin asked. _“I mean surely you have at least_ something _planned. A chance to strike back?”_

Shigaraki threw a glass at Seishin, who dodged the glass expertly. “Shut the fuck up Seishin! You haven’t done shit at all. You prance around in that fancy costume but that’s all you are!”

He looked as the rest of Stain’s group drew weapons, Dabi lighting a fire in his palms.

 _“I’ve done plenty Shigaraki, I just don’t tell you.”_ Seishin said beneath his helmet. _“I don’t want to fight, but stop throwing things.”_

Shigaraki simply grumbled, and then walked over his way. His nerves spiked at that point because Shigaraki walking his way was _never_ a good sign. “Try to get some information out of Seishin.” Shigaraki whispered in his ear. “He seems about your age so you should be able to get information from him. I don’t like that I don’t know much about him.”

Well, his plan had been to try to reach out to Seishin in the first place, so this was the perfect opportunity.

“Is there something specific you want to get from him?”

“What he’s been up to, any important crimes, and stuff like that.”

“Don’t worry Shigaraki. I got it.” He replied. “Hey Seishin!”

 _“What is it?”_ Seishin asked from where he had been talking. _“I think Shigaraki called you Crafter?”_

“Could you come with me? I’d like to talk to you.” He then opened a door that led into some of the other rooms of the bar. And after checking that Seishin was following him, he went up to where his room was. It was drastically different from his dorm room, sparsely decorated save for weapons. But the main reason why he was leading Seishin to his room was because his room had no bugs or microphones, and he swept his room for these nearly every day. When he went into his room again, he searched around his room again for bugs. When Seishin went in, he also searched around for bugs.

After the two of them did a thorough search, Seishin sat down at the desk chair, and he sat on his bed. _“I suspect that you aren’t here just to get information on me.”_ Seishin said.

“How did you hear that?” He asked. He thought he had been pretty quiet with his whispering.

 _“I’ve always had pretty good hearing.”_ Seishin said. _“And nobody searches a room for bugs unless they don’t want to be heard.”_

“Well then. Alright.” He took a breath. “Well, the thing is, ever since I actually started attending UA, I really don’t want to be a traitor anymore. I want to try to escape.” He said in a low voice. “So, can you help me?”

He tugged at the edges of his mask nervously. Seishin passed him a burner phone. _“There’s two numbers saved on that phone, the one starting with 7 is my official number, you can give that to Shigaraki, as well as the fact that I haven’t done much to fulfill the will of Stain yet. The number starting with 4 is a second number I use. Keep that for yourself._

_“I’ll see what I can do to help you, you may have to wait until All for One is defeated before we start.”_

“Yeah, I was worried about that. Well thanks anyways Seishin. I’m glad to have someone in my corner on this.”

 _“I’m always happy to help. Anyways, we should get going, I think we’ve been here long enough.”_ Seishin said. 

“You’re right. Well let’s go.”

Hopefully this will work out for him. Seishin doesn’t seem like the type to go back on his word.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Order.


	31. Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's a bit sorter than normal, I've been pretty busy lately :)  
> I'll make it up to you guys on Saturday.  
> Anyway, I'm going to update twice a week even if the chapters are a bit shorter.

Technically grabbing onto the end of a train was illegal, but it wasn’t something that many heroes really looked for, because stopping train-hoppers wasn’t that much publicity. Maybe Eraserhead or some other underground hero, like X-max or Terrel Fen might stop him, although he’s probably not that high a priority.

Still, it’s a bit nerve-racking holding onto a train going about two hundred kilometers an hour, primarily because of the fact there wasn’t really a handhold, he had to carefully grab onto… something. It looked like a hatch.

In order to throw off potential pursuit, he’d go one stop over from where he needs to be, at the Kirin Street stop, change in an abandoned warehouse that he took a roundabout route to get to, and then take the train legitimately back to Musutafu.

The warehouse had been one of his best discoveries he had made. It was on the outskirts of Musutafu, out of the way of all the major roads. He had replaced the locks to the place, moved things he found in the other warehouses nearby, patched up some of the holes in the roof, and made some rooms on the inside. It was his secret lair, in a way.

Hell, there was even an old computer and a page of the Death Note in one of the rooms, just in case it was needed, for example if he was away from the dorms and his house for an extended period of time.

When would that ever happen? It would be a rare occasion, but it was worth the risk of keeping a page of the Death Note here. He quickly changed out of his Seishin costume (and hung up the pieces, in order to make sure that it didn’t get wrinkles), and got into some civilian clothes, along with a medical mask and sunglasses. He slipped out of the warehouse, taking a roundabout route to the train station, discarding his mask and sunglasses about halfway along the way in a hidden compartment he found between two houses. It’s surprising how many secret things you can find when you look. Secret doors, hidden hidey-holes, false floors, and anything else he couldn’t think of.

Over time, he had developed a sixth sense, where he could sense any sort of pursuer or danger. He hadn’t detected anyone in his entire trip, but this extra trip was just to get into the routine. Maybe he could ask Kurogiri to drop him off at a location nearby.

The next day found him on a train to Hanrun Kal. It would be several hours before he got to his destination, so he pulled out his phone and turned on some stupid mobile game. It was called “Gem Crusade” or something similarly stupid. But it was enjoyable, and a timekiller.

Over the course of the next six and a half hours he alternated between playing Gem Crusade, resting, and looking at the news, also going to the bathroom once or twice. Dammit, why did the villains have to be this far away?

Now he could’ve done this remotely, in fact that had been his Plan A, but there were several ways that it could go wrong, namely 27’s villain coworkers finding out that Kanteyama Tsukiota was betraying them. So that’s why he was going to do this in person. He had planned out everything in advance, and he had already written down Kanteyama’s name in the Death Note. But situations could occur, things he hadn’t foreseen. He had tried to use the Death Note to indirectly control the actions of others, but it didn’t work (There had been a fake hero, Iyami Kenji, who he had tried to write down “Killed by the Hero Killer Stain”, but that didn’t work), so being present was critical to his plan.

* * *

Deku was hiding a secret.

How did he know? It was fucking obvious.

They had barely spoken for ten months, and then he sees damn Deku sitting smugly in a chair, having apparently gotten a recommendation from Kamui Woods. Apparently somewhere along the line damn Deku learned how to fight.

Oh yeah, he also got a fucking quirk! Where the fuck did that come from? And it was a pretty damn powerful quirk. Not as powerful as his own, but still, why did Deku fucking hide a quirk from him?

It had only gotten more suspicious when he heard that Deku was going home for the weekend. Fucking why? He heard from the old hag that Auntie Inko was going to the CAU until Tuesday, and Deku knew that, so why was he headed home instead of staying at UA? There were other things he noticed, but all in all something _big_ happened to Deku over the past ten months, and he needs to find what the fuck it is, so he can put Deku back in his fucking place.

So what’s the first step? Well he had to convince the old hag to head over to Deku’s place, which was actually pretty easy (He had convinced her that he would invite Deku over for dinner, because one of her soft spots was food. More specifically, her own cooking), so now all he had to do was head over to Deku’s place and invite him over, and maybe get some answers out of the damn nerd.

Only when he went over, there were no lights on in the apartment. Which meant that either Deku was doing something in the dark, or he wasn’t there. He’s not going to look fucking stupid by ringing the doorbell, so he sent a text message Deku’s way.

**KBakugo [16:49]:** Where the fuck are you you damn nerd?

It took only a couple of seconds for Deku to respond, meaning that the damn nerd was on his phone.

**Deku [16:49]:** Why do you care?

Fucker. It was shit like this that got him pissed. The fuck did Deku think he was doing, responding to him like this? Well, time to confront the damn nerd.

**KBakugo [16:49]:** You’re not at your damn apartment. Where the fuck are you?

**Deku [16:50]:** Oh! There’s this shop up in Hokkaido that’s selling a special All Might figure. From what I can tell, it has his costume from his debut! I had to pick it up.

Ah fuck, that did sound like something Deku would do. And Hokkaido was several hours away by train.

**KBakugo [16:50]:** Does Auntie Inko know?

**Deku [16:50]:** I told her in advance, yeah she knows.

**KBakugo [16:50]:** Don’t fucking get shanked or some shit like that.

He hadn’t heard about that figurine, but Deku was fucking obsessed with All Might, so it made sense at least. He’s still fucking suspicious, and he’s sure that Deku’s hiding something, and he needs to find it out.

* * *

Midoriya closed the text chat, and breathed a massive sigh of relief. He had managed to get Bakugo off of his back, but the very fact that Bakugo was suspicious was something bad. The lie about the figurine was pretty easy, he had brought that very same figurine with him. (He had so much All Might merchandise that even _he_ had trouble sorting through all of it)

It wasn’t a perfect alibi by any means, but it was good enough. He had one more hour until he arrived at the station, and a little over two hours before his meeting with Kanteyama Tsukiota. Which gave him enough time to pop over to the little hostel he would be staying the night in, as he didn’t want to ride the train back. (It was 3pm already, it would be past midnight by the time he was done, so his mom recommended this one place for him.)

The room was a nice little place, a single room plus a bathroom, was definitely not a place for long-term staying. Sure there were some… suspicious sounds coming from another room and the person behind the desk didn’t give him a second glance, but whatever.

The room was on the first floor, so the window had direct access to an alleyway. He had gone around and gone through it before, there weren’t any security cameras in the alleyway or nearby, meaning his disguise would work perfectly.

He hadn’t anticipated acting as Kira would mean using so many disguises. But then again, it really had spiraled out of control. So he changed out of the clothes he had arrived in and assembled his disguise. It was pretty simple, nothing that would stand out, it was just clothes that were far out of what he usually wore. Tight-fitting dark jeans, a red t-shirt with characters from Yokiya Adventura on the front and some quotes from the anime on the back, and then a white Adidas hoodie.

And for his next trick….

He grabbed a box out of his backpack. He had gotten weird looks from the lady at the shop when he purchased these items, but he explained it away as a gift for his girlfriend for her birthday.

A hair straightener, and concealer for his specific skin tone. He later bought colored contacts at a different shop. He also had curlers back at home in case his hair didn’t recover (Either that or he’ll just get it cut), so he’s ready for the recovery.

He checked his phone. Forty-six minutes until Kanteyama Tsukiota, also known as 27, would be in position. Nine minutes to get from where he needed to go from here, give an extra three just to be safe, leaves him with thirty-four minutes to do what he needs to do.

First step, straightening his hair as much as he could.

He _thought_ he knew how bad it was to do anything with his hair, but this was on another level. When he had five minutes left before he had to leave, he decided to just mentally say “fuck it” and leave it like it was, a half-spiky, half-curly mess, but it did look different, and it brought out the green in his hair, making it look a different color. He put in his colored contacts, which changed the color of his eyes from green to black, wrangled himself into the jeans, got a clear rubber glove on and grabbed a file folder that contained everything he needed, and leapt out of the window a minute behind schedule. Which was fine, he gave himself three minutes of time for a reason. He made his way down to the mall where Kanteyama Tsukiota was waiting for him, although the villain didn’t know who he was meeting.

“Hey, dude!” A male teen’s voice called out to him. Immediately he felt a knot in his chest. The voice sounded familiar. He turned around to see some random guy with a spiky dark blue mohawk - wait no that’s a fin -, sea green eyes, pale green-blue skin, and the occasional cluster of scales. As in, nobody he knew or even seen before. “Like your style. What’s your name?”

He always tried to be friendly, and hell, this guy seemed nice. “M’name’s Atakani Mikumo.” A fake name he had thought up. It seemed like it fit him somehow. “What about you?”

“I’m Aokaiyo Kiboji. Nice to meet you.” The fish guy - Aokaiyo - replied. “You going anywhere?”

“Yeah, actually I am.” He replied.

“Well, if I could catch up with you later that’d be cool, could I get your number?”

He grabbed some scrap paper from his pocket and scrawled the number for his burner phone (also the phone currently on him at the time) and handed it to him. “Nice to meet you Aokaiyo, but I’ve got somewhere to be.”

“Well have a good one Atakani!”

“Same to you Aokaiyo!” He said as he walked towards the mall. Cool dude Aokaiyo.

He ended up finding Kanteyama after around six minutes, looking intently at the map in his hand. Perfect. He walked up behind Kateyama, just enough that it didn’t look suspicious, and whispered into Kanteyama’s ear.

“Hello, 27.”

Kanteyama visibly tensed up, meaning that he really _was_ 27\. He had double and triple-checked the information he had, and he was damn sure that Kanteyama was the villain 27. But the confirmation was nice.

“I could burn you from the inside.” Kanteyama whispered back. “It’ll take me less than a minute to kill you. So I suggest backing off.”

“It’ll take me far less time to do the same.” He replied, his heart pounding in his throat. Hopefully his plan would work.

“What’s your quirk buddy boy?” The guy asked, confidence filling his voice.

“I’ll give you one better, I am Kira.” It felt so good to just _say_ it out loud to someone, even a stranger that’s going to die. It feels silly, but it made him feel relieved in a way.

He could see Kanteyama tense up even more, and was even seeming to waver. “Prove it.” Kanteyama said, the confidence in the villain’s voice replaced by a false confidence, a bravado that he probably didn’t feel inside.

“Very well then. I’ll prove it to you.” He snapped his fingers, and one of the people cleaning the store in front of them, a coffee shop, collapsed to the ground.

“Matsuke Eishi, serial sexual assaulter. Sexually abused his wife and kids, as well as his niece and nephew. Gaslit the people he abused into thinking they wanted it, coached his victims into lying to the police. Not enough evidence to convict him, the courts threw out the case. A garbage human being that deserved to die.”

His mind went to what he had written in the Death Note:

_“Matsuke Eishi: Is present at the Hakio Breakfast shop in the Kajin Mall by 4:48 pm at the latest. Dies of a heart attack the moment someone snaps their fingers once when Kanteyama Tsukiota is present in the Kajin Mall.”_

He had thought about some more complicated plan, but a more complicated plan was prone to failure. That’s where a lot of so-called “geniuses” fail. They make these over-complicated plots with a thousand variables, and because of their ridiculously complicated plan they call themselves geniuses. Then their plan inevitably results in failure. There’s an old quote that he remembers, he even has it on a postcard. “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French Novelist from pre-quirk times. His plans were as simple as he could make them.

“That’s… that’s a coincidence.” The guy said, clearly frightened and not believing what he was saying.

“Well then, I’ll just have to show you again.” He snapped his fingers again, and a second person dropped to the ground. “Isogai Miyako. She ran a brothel which sold out underage girls with animal mutation quirks to anyone who could pay enough money. Disgusting garbage.”

Her entry in the Death Note was very similar to Matsuke’s:

_“Isogai Miyako: Is present near the Hakio Breakfast shop in the Kajin Mall by 4:50 pm at the latest. Dies of heart attack the moment someone snaps their fingers twice when Kanteyama Tsukiota is present in the Kajin Mall.”_

“So… what are you going to do with me now?” Kanteyama asked nervously.

“Hold out your hand, I’m going to hand you something.” He said, and then subtly moved the file he was holding into Kanteyama’s hand, which he took without complaint. “What do I do now?” He asked, still very nervous.

“There’s a park in the center of the mall. Head over there. If there’s an empty bench, sit down, if there’s not, wait until there is. Inside of the envelope there’s an earpiece, put it on, I’ll be able to hear you and give instructions.” He grabbed the second earpiece from his pocket, and slipped it on his ear. Kanteyama walked into the park, and he followed, until he got to a window so he could see the villain, who had put in the earpiece as requested, and was sitting on an empty bench.

_“Ok Kira, what do I do now?”_

“There’s a clipboard in the folder, take it out and write down the names of everyone in the organization you are a part of.”

_“I’m… I’m not going to do that, Kira! I’m a high-ranked person in my organization, Ten will kill me if I reveal the real names of everyone in the organization!”_

“And you’re a criminal, and I kill criminals, if you refuse this you’re going to die regardless, so you might as well give the names.”

 _“Very well.”_ He heard a sigh from the other side of the earpiece. _“You’re in luck, Kira. I happen to know the names of everyone in the organization, because I’m a naturally curious person.”_

It didn’t take that long for him to write down the names, as well as quirk descriptions, appearance details, as well as their identities within the organization. All the information he needed.

 _“You know, even Ten is just a pawn in the hands of All for One. You’ll never kill him!”_ Kanteyama said.

“I know.” He whispered back. “This is the beginning of taking down All for One, 27. Knock out the pawns and rooks before checkmate.”

_“Anyway I’m done what should I do now?”_

“Put everything back in the folder, throw it in the only trashcan in the park, and you are free to leave the mall, 27.”

_“Not gonna kill me, Kira?”_

“Just leave, 27.”

Kanteyama did as ordered, putting everything back into the folder, threw the folder into the trash can, and walked out of the mall.

He waited about thirty seconds, and then ran to the trash can, pulling out the folder. He said something under his breath about a “Damn thief stealing his folder.” and “Threw it in the trash, the fucker.” just loud enough that people overheard what he was saying. Now all he needed was to write this information in his own handwriting, and present it to Principal Nezu.

_Kanteyama Tsukiota: Finds out as much as he can about his villainous compatriots without acting suspiciously, then is present in the Kajin Mall near the Hakio Breakfast Shop at 5:02 PM at the latest. Once approached by the person he understands as Kira, he will never turn his face to see the person he thinks is Kira’s identity, and will not resist any commands given by who he thinks is Kira. Writes down all the information he knows about his villainous compatriots, and then leaves Kajin Mall. Returns four hours later to Kajin Mall to burn the security tapes in a way it’s obvious he did it. Does not reveal his betrayal to anyone, escapes Japan on a boat but gets caught in a storm and drowns._

A pretty lengthy entry in the Death Note, but this was the main part of his plan, after all. He had reviewed everything in advance, and his plan was waterproof. He had the information he needed, the security tapes would be wiped, and 27 would be blamed for it. His plan was foolproof.

His phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out immediately, because it could be an important message from Stain or Dabi.

**AKiboji [3:23]:** Hey Atakani! This is you, right?

**AMikumo [3:23]:** Yeah this is, what’s up?

Aokaiyo messaged him? Well he did seem like a friendly guy, so it made sense.

**AKiboji [3:23]:** So me and a couple of friends were gonna hang out at Tiern’s at about 4. You wanna go?

He thought about that for a moment. He would probably have to modify his disguise a bit, but he could make it work. He’d probably need to go shopping for some temporary clothing. It might be wrong to take money from villains, but he made sure to only take from villains with nobody they need to support.

So a different pair of jeans, most likely. The shirt was fine, he had worn the hoodie over it, so he could just wear that. He knew enough about Yokiya Adventura to talk about it if he needed to. Picking up random bits and pieces of information seemed to be useful. You never know when you’ll need some random fact.

So he put on a hat that hid his hair, took out his contacts, and changed into something he would normally wear (eventually. Damn those jeans were tight.), and snuck out the window again. Could never be too careful. He had seen a clothes store on the way...

“Hey, Atakani, why are you dressed differently?” Aokaiyo asked as he approached Tiern’s.

“Well, I spilled some soda on myself, so I had to change because the cup was nearly full.” He explained.

“Duuuude!” a guy with bright hair that looked like fire, and red-orange eyes yelled out. “You watch Yokiya Adventura too?”

Oh yeah, he still had this shirt. “I mean, I haven’t seen it in a while, but I did watch it before.”

“Well, you might wanna get back into it, the Aegis arc is one of the best! Oh I’m Kiyate by the way!”

“I’ll be sure to do so.” He replied. “So who’s the rest of you?”

A guy with a single, curved, golden-colored horn, rust-red hair, and black eyes spoke up at that point. “I’m Hiyate.”

The last guy, who had metallic blue hair and eyes spoke up. “I’m Tadekiya.”

“Well, you ever been to Tiern’s?” Aokaiyo asked him.

“Nope, I’m only visiting Hanrun Kal, and I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

“Well, I hope you’ll come up to Hanrun Kal sometime in the future, so we can hang out again.”

“Maybe. So what is Tiern’s?”

Turns out that Tiern’s was a very strange place. It’s one of those shops you wonder how they stay in business, and what illegal shit they’re doing to stay afloat. There’s crappy food, strange games, and seating in weird places. Place was packed, though, so that explains things.

He picked up the numbers of the rest of Aokaiyo’s friends somewhere along the way.

When he got back to the room, he saw a notification on his main phone. 

“ **UOchako** has added **MIzuku** to **Class 1-A Group Chat.** -2 hours ago”

A group chat? He’ll probably just lurk.

**UOchako [6:03]:** Anyone have Bakugo’s contact info?

Huh, looks like Bakugo didn’t give his contact information. Well good luck for everyone else that he has Bakugo’s contact information.

**MIzuku** has added **BKatsuki** to **Class 1-A group chat**.

He’ll probably just check in every so often to make sure Bakugo’s still in the group chat and hasn't left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Definition


	32. Definition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you know how in Death Note, L has his specific pose thing he does? Yeah I do the same thing. Well, not the exact same pose, but it definitely is strange.  
> Anyway, I was tempted to leave out Izuboi's hero name for Wednesday, but...  
> I decided to be nice for once. Don't get used to it >:)

He was on the train back to UA. It was 10am on Sunday, his “Kira” disguise burned up, reduced to ash, and the ashes themselves in a sewer, dropped off when he swapped trains in some train stop in the middle of nowhere. The curlers were mostly successful, but he ended up cutting it off just to be sure. Every lead was plugged, he even changed his plan and bought the All Might figurine he said he was going up for, and it was even a local shop, so that’s that.

Only three hours left until he arrived at Musutafu, and three and a half hours until he was back at UA. He wouldn’t share the information he got immediately, he’d wait three days before sharing the information with Principal Nezu, so he could double-check the information, and maybe scrounge up anything else he could find. There was the Royale Hero Agency in Hanrun Kal, maybe the pro hero Royal Eminence had some information on the group he dubbed “The Numbers”.

His thoughts drifted into how he would possibly do this without the Death Note. It would probably involve a lot more computer work, and a lot more trawling through the quirk registry, checking notes, maybe even a trip to Hanrun Kal or two. It’d probably take at least a month. But he’ll be able to present the information to Principal Nezu a week after being assigned the task.

Getting this information was pretty easy, most likely the Numbers were grossly overconfident. They likely felt pressured to action by the weight of Kira and Stain (Who he noticed had started killing criminals as well), and were either overconfident or sloppy. Either way, it doesn’t matter. By next week’s end, all of the Numbers will be on trial at the very least. (Except 27, Kanteyama Tsukiota, who will be drowning at sea.) And then maybe Principal Nezu will assign him another goal. He knows very little about All for One (They only had a particularly brief conversation, when he was acting as Seishin. It was a tiny bit funny that All for One was speaking to a holder of One for All and he didn’t know), but from what he could read of the supervillain, he was the type to have all sorts of roots spread throughout the world. So Izuku was damn sure that the Numbers wasn’t the only one of his organizations, even in Japan, even though All Might spent the most time in Japan.

All Might’s been capturing pieces for decades now, and All for One had been in check once before, so Checkmate was fast approaching. Most likely, looking at what he’s seen, and the way All for One and Shigaraki were talking, it’ll be before the next year’s end.

His phone rang at that point. Not his burner phone, his actual phone, which was unusual. It was an unknown number. Who could it possibly be?

Aand it was a scam call. Something about “Hero damages insurance.” He heard about these companies, they prey on vulnerable people and charge ridiculous rates. Also, a combination of the hero agencies and the government pays for property damage from hero damages, so these insurance companies didn’t sell a necessary service.

On his final train back to Musutafu, two stops before getting to UA, Kaminari walked on the train, looking pretty tired. What had he done over the weekend?

“Hey Kaminari!” He called out. “How was your weekend?”

“Rough.” Kaminari replied, sounding uncharacteristically beaten down. “M’family was loud the entire weekend, so I didn’t get that much sleep. What about you, what did you do over the weekend?”

“Oh!” He replied, pulling out the new All Might figurine he got. “I went up to Hokkaido to get this. I know that’s far but this is All Might’s debut costume.”

“Sounds like a better time than me being with my family.” Kaminari said, almost sounding defeated, but he did sit down right beside Izuku. “Sorry if you don’t want to hear all of this. I can stop if you want.”

“Nah, you can go on.” He replied. “If I can help I will.”

“There’s not much to it, just… my mother told me yesterday I couldn’t be a hero. Said my quirk would fry my brain before I’d graduate.” Kaminari said, after a pause.

“Nonsense! You’re gonna be a great hero!” He said. “You’re quirk doesn’t do too well at range, so maybe you could have something for that? That’s what costumes are for, reducing the weak points of your quirk and fighting style and increasing your strong points. Anyways, how’s your quirkless combat skill?”

“Not good.” Kaminari admitted.

“Well, I can help with that. I only got my quirk about three months ago, so… yeah.”

“You got your quirk three months ago? And you can already use it like that? That’s amazing Midoriya!”

“Well… I guess. But anyways, I’d be happy to help with whatever you need.”

“Thanks, Midoriya. I’ll definitely take you up on that offer sometime soon. Maybe before the Sports Festival.”

“You still think it’s going to happen?” He asked. “I mean, the school did just get attacked pretty recently.”

“There’s going to be a hundred thousand people in attendance, including thousands of pro heroes. It would be suicide to attack the sports festival.”

“Yeah you’re right.”

* * *

“T, are you there? I found out something.” Midoriya Inko spoke up.

_ “Please, share your observations Mrs. Midoriya.”  _ T said from his laptop.

“Well, for the past six days, Kira’s been killing criminals exclusively within Japan. Twenty-one criminals in total.”

_ “You’re quite correct. I noticed that as well. My theory is that Kira isn’t trying to hide the fact that he’s Japanese, and in Japan. In fact, I don’t think that Kira has left Japan in the past three months.” _

“That goes along with what we established, that Kira is relatively young.” Kamui Woods spoke up. “So now that we’re sure Kira is Japanese, what are we going to do?”

_ “We need to pull Kira out of hiding. The unique difficulty in this is that Kira as a symbol is that Kira can operate in the shadows in perpetuity. But Kira is only capable of doing this because of the more public figure of Stain. If we arrest Stain, then Kira will probably be more in the open.” _

“Are you sure that’s going to work?” Kageyama Tsuji spoke up, her voice was quiet, yet the moment she started speaking, everyone else went silent. “From my experience, if a person becomes a symbol, killing them will only intensify their message, especially if that message is perceived as ‘counterculture.’”

“We can’t just not arrest Stain.” Death Arms said. “But I get what you’re saying, arresting him would be dangerous. But leaving him around is even more dangerous.”

_ “Stain’s message is already out.”  _ T said.  _ “So arresting the Hero Killer would be less dangerous. The pro heroes Endeavor and Hawks should team up and head to Hosu. I have intelligence that Stain is present in Hosu, and he recently arrived. Which means he should be in Hosu for two weeks at the very least.” _

“Tamiji, call the Hero Commission assistant director Sukitake!” Midoriya Inko yelled. “Tell him what T said about assigning Hawks and Endeavor to Hosu!” A guy with a single curved silver horn ran out of the room.

“Why those two and not All Might?” Ōtādoragon asked. “I mean, they are two of the top 3 heroes and all, but wouldn’t All Might be better?”

_ “In the video, Stain said that the only hero who he would allow to kill him was All Might. It’s very possible that Stain will intentionally get himself killed by All Might, which is what he wants. Anyway, I sent a message to the Hero Commission, so that combined with Tamiji’s call should be enough to convince them. Anyway, Stain isn’t our main focus, we’re here to catch Kira.” _

“I do have concerns, though.” One of the police detectives said. “It’s a major possibility that Kira is underage, am I correct, T?”

_ “There’s at least a 37% chance of that being correct, Detective Ikari. What of it?” _

“Legislation around minors is a pretty murky territory.” Detective Ikari replied. “Especially because I’ve been thinking that Kira could have been… manipulated to some degree.”

_ “Kira’s an international supervillain, Detective Ikari, even if Kira is a minor, it should be barely an inconvenience to try them as an adult, in fact the reverse would be extremely difficult. And there’s only a .2% chance that Kira is being forced or coerced into killing.”  _ T replied.  _ “I know it sounds distasteful, but you still need to understand that Kira is probably one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. If you can’t handle arresting a minor, then I suggest you leave.” _

Two of the detectives stood up at that point and walked up to Midoriya. “I’m sorry Mrs. Midoriya, but I don’t think I can arrest a minor in good faith.” The first one said, bowing.

“I myself have a daughter who’s 14 right now, I couldn’t imagine someone her age being Kira. I apologize for wasting your time.” The second detective said, also bowing.

“There’s no dishonor in knowing your limits, Detective Tadashi, Detective Satakama. Your work on this case has been invaluable, but I understand. Especially you, Detective Statakama. I have a 15 year old myself.” She replied. “I’ll provide you stellar recommendations in your future jobs, you were both very helpful.”

“Thank you.” The two detectives said, bowing again, and then walking out, suitcases in hand.

“So now there’s only 12 people left.” Death Arms said. “Is this enough?”

_ “That’s more than enough, Death Arms.”  _ T replied.  _ “I think we should postpone our next meeting until a week after Stain is arrested, giving us time for Kira’s reaction. I don’t think we’ll find anything major until then. Any disagreement?” _

There were sounds of agreement from everyone.

_ “Very well then. And remember ladies and gentlemen, we  _ will _ find Kira.” _ With those parting statements, the laptop T was using turned off, and Watari grabbed the laptop and left.

* * *

T looked down at the papers scattered in front of him. This case certainly was one of the most difficult he had worked on in quite some time. Maybe even ever. The amount of information he had was little to nothing. Kira could kill at range, only needing a name and face, could control his victims before he killed them, and could most likely (86% chance) control the time of his victim’s deaths as well. Meaning all Kira needed was less than a minute of spare time per day, and someone would be dead. He had tried to use tracking services to find if someone was searching about fake heroes, but at this point thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people were doing the same thing, searching through public (and sometimes not so public) information on fake heroes and villains.

He had also tried to shut down the forums where people shared information on potential victims for Kira, comparing notes and similar, but whenever one was shut down, two more took its place, like the mythical Hydra. Shutting down these forums was now the primary task of the IIRC (International Internet Regulation Committee), which shut down about 36 every single day. A needle in the haystack to the thousands that are floating around in the deep web.

It was public support that was the problem. Exposing rotten systems to the air was irresistible to many people, and now that it had spread internationally, it was going to be almost impossible to stop.

Keyword “Almost.”

That was what was interesting about this case, not only the lack of information presented to him, but the fact that public support was behind this… supervillain. There had been an anonymous poll recently, and 29% of people polled supported Kira and Stain in some way, primarily younger people, which was even more worrying.

Odds are some of the hero course students at UA and the other hero schools were supportive of Kira and Stain in some way, even if they wouldn’t admit it out loud.

Not like that was 100% a bad thing. The system badly needed reform, the HPSC was more focused on maintaining a status quo then any sort of quality control. But this was far from the right way. He’d probably have Dr. Shinso interview Kira, an aspect of Mind Palace was mind reading, which Dr. Shinso used to tear apart the ideology of villains, and Dr. Shinso loved a challenge as much as he did.

Now, to create a plan to force Kira’s hand. The problem was that even if Kira was a student at a hero school, there’s 47 hero schools in Japan, and a total of about 5040 hero course students. Sure he has some theories about specifics, but Kira could be at some local hero high school. That’s what he would do if he was Kira anyways. So forcing Kira’s hand would most certainly be a difficult task.

He had this theory that Kira had access to the investigation’s reports somehow. How he accomplished this feat, he had no idea, but it’s a possibility that Kira was either a member of Kamui Woods’ agency or a relative.

He clicked a button on his communicator. It was special access to Watari, for situations like this. “Watari, this is T. I have a theory.”

_ “What is it T?”  _ Watari asked from the communicator.

“I think Kira has access to information from the investigation. I want to create a plant to try and prove this point.”

_ “Why don’t you just update the security for Kamui Woods’ agency? That sounds like a much better idea.” _

“I’ve looked over the agency's security software. It’s the same security you’ll find almost anywhere. Decades of software piled on top of each other to the point it would take years to sort though everything. Our security software was built from the ground up, and it’s not a system we can implement easily. Planting the information is the only way.”

_ “Ah, that makes sense. What sort of information are you planning to plant?” _

“That Kira is a high school student, this we have confirmed. I estimate an 84% chance this is the case. I want to know what Kira’s going to do with that.”

_ “Well, good luck with your plan, T.” _

“Luck’s not a part of this, Watari. It’s skill that’s the main thing.

* * *

Principal Nezu looked at the security camera footage in front of him. Someone or something had tampered with the footage when the media entered the school. That, combined with the disintegrated door of the UA barrier, and the fact the class schedule was messed with leads to only one conclusion.

There’s a mole in the school.

He hates the idea of a mole, someone who was in their school working for the League of Villains (and most likely All for One). But looking at the information, it was the only theory that made sense. The warp quirk user left “traces” of his quirk up to 7 hours afterwards. They checked, and no trace. So the warp quirk user was out of the picture.

Although, he was hopeful that Midoriya would finish the investigation into the Numbers Guild.

“Principal Nezu!” A voice came from the other side of his door. “I have an important message for you!”

“Come on in, Yagi.” He replied.

The door opened, and the thin frame of Yagi Toshinori, also known as All Might, walked through.

“What is it, Yagi?” He asked, folding his paws together, and then hopping off of his chair. “I have tea if you want it.” He pointed to the tea he had just recently made sitting on the table.

Yagi grabbed a cup. “Thanks, Principal Nezu.” He grabbed two sugar cubes, and plopped them in one after the other. “It’s about Nomu. They did testing on… it, and they determined that while it did have several people’s DNA in it, most quirks don’t work that way. So that means the mysterious message we got is most likely true. All for One really is back. I really didn’t want to believe it to be honest.”

“I know, it’s not something I’d like to believe as well, but it seems like we have to acknowledge that he really has returned. And because of his involvement with Nomu, it’s most likely that he’s sided with the League. We need to get ready. UA needs to be ready.”

“Right.” Yagi said. “Anyway, I have to go, there’s a class I have to plan for.”

“Have a great day, Yagi.” He said as the hero left. As much as he didn’t want to acknowledge it, the age of the Symbol of Peace was waning fast. New, massively powerful, villain organizations are sprouting up, people are getting more critical of heroes every passing moment. Hopefully the changes he made to the sports festival would help assuage the fears of the population.

Does Kira know what he is doing?

* * *

“Do you think Tadeki-sensei is going to be returning?” Ashido asked from her chair. 

“No way!” Izuku said in response. “I saw how injured he was at USJ. He  _ should _ be out for like a week. But you never know, he seems like the stubborn type.

“My older brother said that… Tadeki-sensei is still in the hospital.” Iida said. “Although I suspect that he might leave earlier.”

Well, now Iida admitted he knew Aizawa before their class. He can most certainly use this. “Wait!” He spoke up. “You knew Tadeki-sensei before UA?”

“A little bit.” Iida admitted, “My older brother and him are friends, so I’ve seen him around our house sometimes.”

“So cool!” Hagakure exclaimed. “Can you tell us any juicy details about him?”

“Spreading rumors about teachers is unbecoming of a student of UA!” Iida replied. “I won’t spread rumors about any of our teachers!”

“Any?” Ashido asked, eyes wiggling. “That means that you know rumors about the other teachers!”

“Absolutely not!” Iida yelled out. “I don’t have any so-called ‘tea’ on our teachers.”

Aaaand Iida saying tea was the highlight of his day. He couldn’t help but start laughing, and quite a few of his classmates were also laughing.

“I don’t understand what I said that's funny.” Iida said, confused.

“I never expected you to say tea.” He said. “Where did you even learn what tea is?”

“I learned it from my older brother.” Iida explained. “I know more current terms than you’d expect.”

At that point the door opened, revealing Aizawa-sensei. Although he looked more like a mummy with black hair.

“Hello everyone.” Aizawa-sensei said from beneath his bandages. “I’m still here.”

“Are you sure you should be here? You look like a mummy.” Sero said.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking a few days off. Even beings of darkness need restorative time.” Tokoyami said.

“Quiet.” Aizawa said, and they all were silent. “Now. I have an announcement for you all. The Sports Festival is going to get moved up. So you have 12 days to be ready for the Sports Festival, which is happening next Saturday.”

“Is that wise?” Iida asked. “I mean, there was a villain attack at the school recently.”

“There will be triple the amount of security, and even normally, there are thousands of heroes present during the Sports Festival stadium directly, and even more attend as civilians. In addition to all of that, we have Mahakala, Cementoss and Ahkamal building the facilities from the ground up. Now that that’s taken care of, it’s time for another special lesson.”

The class was silent at that point, him included. What could this lesson be about? Something relating to the Sports Festival most likely. What could it be? Maybe they were going to learn something special for the sports festival? Head back to the USJ for actual rescue training this time? What could they be doing?

“We’ll be picking out hero names.” Aizawa announced.

That seemed to break the dam, his classmates yelling out what they wanted their hero name to be. But he was thinking. He had devoted pretty much all of his mental energy to his work as Kira, so he hadn’t really thought about a hero name.

What sort of hero did he want to be? Well, at least, the hero he wanted to portray as his public image. Easy, he wanted to be a hero that saved as many people as he could. He didn’t want to be a Symbol of Peace, like All Might. Peace is a weak word, a passive word. It implied stagnation and return to the status quo. He wanted to be a different symbol, a Symbol of… Change. The world was a broken place. It didn’t need a symbol of peace, in fact that’s the last thing the world needed. It needed a Symbol of Revolution, first and foremost, but that would be fulfilled by him under the guise of Kira. As a hero, he would be the Symbol of Change, to make sure the world that’s upheaved by Kira is changed into a better world. Now what would be a good name for a Symbol of Change?

“Make sure to choose a good hero name.” Aizawa started saying.

“OR ELSE YOU’LL KNOW TRUE HELL!!” The door burst open, and Midnight strode in. “The hero names you choose here may be the ones you’ll keep for the rest of your life. So choose wisely.”

“Midnight here will help with choosing your hero names.” Aizawa said, slipping back into the yellow sleeping bag he seemed to always carry with him. Izuku faintly heard Aizawa say. “I’m no good at that.”

“Children!” Midnight announced, cracking her whip. “Think about what type of hero you wanted to be! What you want to do in the future! Use this as a basis for your hero name. Be creative! You don’t have to base your hero name around your quirk.”

He was handed a marker and a whiteboard. He knew what he wanted to be, a Symbol of Change. How does he make this into a hero name? He definitely wants something cool. Short yet memorable.

Something that involves breaking something and building it anew.

He looked up to see that Aoyama walked up to the platform, ready to announce his hero name.

“The Shining Hero: I Can Not Stop Twinkling! Meaning, you can’t stop my sparkles!”

A sentence? Aoyama chose a sentence as his hero name? His sentiments were shared by the rest of the class.

“I’d be better if you chose something a bit more positive, got it?” Midnight asked.

“Oui Mademoiselle!” Aoyama announced, erasing his board and writing something else. “The Shining Hero: I Will Eternally Sparkle!”

“Maybe take out the ‘I Will’ and then alter the grammar to fit.” Midnight suggested. And then Aoyama announced his new hero name “Eternally Sparkling!”

One by one, his classmates chose hero names. Ashido ended up with “Pinky”, after her first name “Alien Queen” was rejected. Tsu ended up with “Froppy.” Tokoyami with “Tsukuyomi”, Sero with “Tapeman”, Sato with “Sugarman”, Hagakure with “Invisible Girl”, Uraraka with “Uravity”. All good hero names.

Kaminari’s hero name was a surprise, he chose the hero name “ReVolt”. A very clever pun indeed. Kirishima’s was a homage to the famous ex-hero Crimson Riot, with hero name of “Red Riot”

And then it came to his own hero name, he rejected all of the names that were derived from All Might’s hero name. His first plan had been to go with “Deku” as a name of spite, but choosing a hero name out of spite was pathetic. He needed a name that people would feel  _ safe _ standing behind, both literally and figuratively. He had it. The name that embodies what it means to be a hero, what  _ he _ wants to be as a hero. This was it, the name that would represent him for the foreseeable future. A virtue all true heroes should hold. He grabbed his whiteboard and wrote down his hero name. Yaoyorozu had just presented her own name “Creati”

He looked to make sure that nobody else was walking up, waiting a half-second, and then he got up. He showed his whiteboard to the class. 

“I am the Fearless Hero: Dauntless!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Second  
> I decided to change it up as I needed to take care of a plot point. (think about le title for a half-second)


	33. Second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's only the beginnings of the impact of the second Death Note :)

After he presented his hero name, there were only a few people left. Iida, Todoroki, and Bakugo. Bakugo’s first hero name idea “King Explosion Murder”, definitely wasn’t heroic by any means. He could tell why Midnight rejected it. But Todoroki was a surprise, not choosing a hero name and instead going by his given name, and Iida did the same thing, saying something about not being worthy of the Ingenium title.

Maybe he can help Todoroki and Iida make a hero name. It was something important that would most likely affect them for… well for the rest of their hero career.

Still, there were 12 days until the Sports Festival, so there’s plenty of time if a change is wanted to change his hero name.

But he’s not changing his hero name. He’s pretty surprised it wasn’t taken before, but hero names based on virtues are shockingly rare, at least in Japan. There’s only a single hero currently in Japan with a virtue-based name, Serenity.

So there was nothing stopping him from using the hero name Dauntless. 

“Hey Iida, why didn’t you choose a hero name yet?” He asked during lunch. Aizawa told them they were going to have some pretty intense hero training today. So he made sure to pile on some extra food for himself. (He was always hungry recently.)

“I don’t know, I asked my older brother about it, and he said I should forge my own path. I don’t know what that means.” Iida explained.

“Well, what sort of hero do you want to be?” He asked. “I chose my hero name based on the sort of hero I wanted to be. One that charges forward, ready for any sort of situation. So what do you want to be as a hero? What inspired you to act heroically?”

“That would be my older brother, Tensei. I always looked up to him. And I became a hero so I could honor him!”

“Maybe you could base your hero name off of the name Ingenium, similar to what Kirishima did with Crimson Riot.” Uraraka spoke up. “That’d be so cool!”

“I guess.” Iida replied. “Thanks Uraraka! I’ll see what I can do about that!”

“What about you, Todoroki?” Asui asked. “You also didn’t choose a hero name.”

“I’ll think of something later.” Todoroki replied. “You all make it sound like a big deal I haven’t decided yet. We have 12 days at the very least.”

Well, Todoroki’s logic did make sense.

“Anyway, how was your guys’ weekends?” Uraraka asked. “I didn’t do much, what about you guys?”

“I got to spend my time with my brother!” Iida replied. “I certainly did enjoy being able to hang out with him.”

“Oh!” Uraraka exclaimed. “Do you guys have any siblings? I’m an only child myself.”

“I only have my older brother.” Iida replied.

“I have a younger sister and a younger brother.” A-Tsuyu added.

What was he going to say? He knew he had at least one half-sibling out there, but he didn’t really interact with them at all. Hell, he didn’t even know if he had an older half-brother or older half-sister! So he pretty much was an only child.

“I’m also an only child.” Yaoyorozu added as well.

“Same here.” He said, the lie slipping easily from his lips. He was becoming better at lying by the week. In a way it was a good thing, because he had so many secrets that would be very dangerous to himself or others if they ever were revealed.

They all looked over at Todoroki, who hadn’t replied yet.

“I have an older brother and an older sister.” Todoroki replied after a bit. Anyways, I also didn’t do too much over the weekend.”

“I went up to Hokkaido to get an All Might figurine.” He said. “Hey, before you judge, it had All Might’s debut costume. Those are pretty rare at this point.”

“I hope you were safe, Kira killed two criminals up in Hokkaido over the weekend.” Yaoyorozu said, looking up from her phone. “Hopefully you weren’t too close to the villain.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t hear about any of that, so I wasn’t that close.” He lied again. He hated lying, and he hated how good at lying he had gotten. But it was necessary.

Also apparently nobody else had done anything interesting over the weekend. Yaoyorozu, Asui, and Uraraka all stayed at UA for that time.

“Alright, today we’re training your reaction times.” Aizawa announced, and then immediately threw a baseball into the group of their class. It slammed into Kirishima, who had hardened his skin in reaction, so the baseball didn’t do much of anything. “You should’ve dodged that.” Aizawa said without a change in tone.

Izuku decided then and there that Aizawa is the best teacher he could ask for. It was clearly obvious that UA took it’s “freestyle” education idea seriously, which was a good thing. He’d hate if Principal Nezu was a hypocrite.

“Having a good reaction time is essential to being a hero. Being able to make a split-second decision, or several split-second decisions in a row, is something you will make every day as a pro hero. Even for those of you with powerful quirks, villains also have powerful quirks, and you’ll end up in a fight that you are struggling in.” Aizawa explained. “So that’s why I’m here, to teach you the hero things that All Might really can’t. Firstly, reaction times.” Their teacher pressed a button, opening up a nearby gym they hadn’t really looked at before, an obstacle course inside. “You better thank Cementoss and Ahkamal for building this in short order.”

“This obstacle course looks simple, but the second and third years of the support course were allowed to get… creative in their designs for the course.”

He saw a sort of doomed look in Aizawa’s face when the support classes were mentioned. What the hell is up with the support class.

“First group: Midoriya, Sero, Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Aoyama. Go!” Aizawa announced.

Great, he was in the first group. That meant that he didn’t have the opportunity to observe the obstacle course. But fuck it, he didn’t choose the hero name “Dauntless” for nothing. Diving forward into battle.

The five of them went into the gym, and the large doors closed behind them. Ah, so that way the other groups didn’t get an advantage.

The obstacle course consisted of six very thick pillars (pillars? Platforms? What’s the right word?), the platform they were standing on, and a platform on the other side. There was water in the pit beneath them. The pillar-platform things were about two meters square, and separated from each other by an additional two meters.

It looks easy. Keyword is “Looks”. From Aizawa’s expression when he mentioned this being designed by the support course second and third years, this was  _ too _ easy. 

_ Absolutely _ too easy.

That was proven when the platform they were standing on began retracting into the wall behind them, while the platform split into three parts, the corner parts going into the walls diagonally, making a growing put.

“Quick! Everyone jump!” He yelled out, then took a running leap for the first platform. A foam-covered bar jutted out from a hidden compartment on the platform, missing him by inches. He landed on the platform, but the area he had been landed in was coated in… oil? Whatever it was, it made the ground really slick, so he started sliding towards the edge. The platform was also pretty smooth, but with 10% One for All slamming into the ground, he created small divets in the ground with his reinforced boots. He managed to stop himself just before falling off. The next thing he did was roll over once or twice until he didn’t feel the oily stuff anymore. Damn he’d need to wash his gym uniform after this. He got a look back to see that Dark Shadow was grabbing onto the platform with 2 dark hands(?). The quirk’s obsidian claws were digging into… whatever material this was made out of, dug in about ten centimeters or so. There were bits of Sero’s tape scattered around the platform, and Kirishima was also grabbing onto the platform, hardened hands digging into the surface just like Dark Shadow’s claws. Alright, he’ll get Kirishima first, then Tokoyami. He carefully walked over to where Kirishima was holding on, the dim lighting hiding the almost imperceptible seams in the platform. He had to dodge two traps, a pit and a net, before getting to where Kirishima was.

“Take my hand, Kirishima!” He called out, reaching out with his hand. Kirishima looked up, and grabbed his hand. He still had One for All flowing through him, so he managed to pull Kirishima up pretty easily. When the two of them were fully on the platform, Izuku couldn’t help but look where Kirishima was hanging.

A foam-covered fist went out about a meter with a grinding sound of metal against metal. And then there was a jerking sound, and the entire platform shook. “Kirishima, go grab Tokoyami. I’ll be on the lookout for Sero. Another piece of tape rushed by, grabbing onto the bar, but it slipped off. He ran over to where the tape was, and wrapped it around his arm before grabbing the bar structure. It was a bit tough, but he managed to get Sero on the platform. He looked over and Kirishima had managed to get Tokoyami up on the platform.

“Sero, did you see what happened to Aoyama?” He asked. He hadn’t seen Aoyama since the platform retracted.

“Aoyama fell into the water trying to jump to the platform.” Kirishima explained, and then the platform shook. “Well, I think we should get to the second platform, if this one is unstable.” The platform shook a third time, then there was the sound of metal scraping against metal, and the platform started to lean. “Run!” He called out. “Get to the other side as fast as you can!”

New Plan: Get to the other side as fast as he could. Leaping from one platform to the next, taking only a second on each platform. On the fifth platform, he hit a foam wall that appeared out of nowhere. He got the breath knocked out of him, but he summoned enough energy to push off of the wall and land on the fourth platform, but of course that wasn’t the end, and where he had landed was actually some sort of hologram, and he fell about three feet down. He was thankful for his gloves and boots, because otherwise his hands and feet would be torn and bloody. He somehow managed to get out of the hole (How he did it, well, it’s a mystery to even him). And was immediately knocked in the face with a foam ball. He managed to maneuver his way into a position where he didn’t fall into the hole again with some… unique poses. Of course that ball wasn’t the only one, it was followed up closely after by dozens of the foam balls flying his way. He ducked down low to the ground in a crouching position, the balls bouncing off of his back. 

Of course this was nowhere near the end of it, as there was a powerful gust of wind that came out of nowhere. The only safe place was the hole, so he laid down, body facing in the direction of the wind, hands grabbing onto the rim of the hole. After about fifteen seconds, the wind relented, and he clambered up and looked at the wall. It was about three meters tall, about a half-meter thick, and foam-covered. There weren’t any handholds or footholds on the foam. Welp, the only solution at this point was to just jump the wall. There wasn’t really that much room to get a running start, but he used whatever he had, taking a few strides and leapt. He jumped over the barrier, and landed on the other side. 

Straight into jello that only  _ looked _ like it was the same material as the rest of the platform. He managed to climb his way out of the gelatin, and he crawled on it. But that wasn’t the only trap, because of course not. One of the areas was a hologram, and he had to scramble to get out, sending large chunks of gelatin falling into the hole. Then the gelatin started to liquify, because of course it would. He scrambled to get to a place where he could jump to the final platform, and he just barely managed to do so, landing on the final platform.

He stood up, but immediately felt dizzy. What is this? How did they even make this? He managed to crouch on the ground like he had done before. The dizziness subsided after an indeterminate amount of time, but his vision cleared, and he noticed there were a  _ ton _ of seams in the surface of the platform. It was obvious there were quite a few traps. He saw the exit on the other side, an open door.

He suspected the traps were weight-activated, but there was always the possibility that they weren’t, that there was some other activation mechanism. There had to be something that he had on him that would work. All he had at this point was his gym uniform, and the gloves and boots from his hero costume (sort of, they were spares from his hero costume, which was what he was allowed).

So he grabbed one of his gloves, balled it up, and tossed it onto the platform. Several traps, covered in padding, tried to catch the glove. But all seven of them failed and the glove started drifting down into the water below. Just to be sure, he tossed his second glove. Even more traps were activated by the second glove.

As soon as the second glove went off of the platform, he ran and then jumped, no more traps were activated. He landed on the end platform. But of course there were most certainly even more traps involved. And it was proven by the fact the end platform began to tilt. Or at least the part he was standing on. It didn’t matter because he took one leap and made it to the end of the doorway. He stumbled out of the doorway to see Aizawa talking to Mahakala, and then turn to him.

“The first platform apparently had some structural problems, so head back to the dorms. The rest of the class will join you soon.”

So the metal noises weren’t on purpose? Well that made the entire adventure a little bit scarier.

It ended up being that everyone in his group except for Aoyama got through the obstacle course. Although it was apparently a close call for Kirishima.

“The obstacle course yesterday was dangerous! I don’t think Tadeki-sensei should’ve let the support classes have free reign over the obstacles.” Iida said. “There could’ve been safer ways to test our skills.”

He looked up from the news report he was reading. Today was the day he’d hand Principal Nezu the report. There weren’t any main hero classes today, so he’d be able to give his information to the principal earlier in the afternoon. 

“Danger is how we learn, Iida. Did you hear what Tadeki-sensei said about what villain fights are like? And this  _ was _ pretty safe. Pretty much everything was padded or covered in foam. Water, gelatin, and pretty much everything was as safe as possible.” He replied.

“Despite how… creative some of the traps were, I thought it was all pretty safe.” Yaoyorozu added. “It was clear the support class knew what they were doing.”

“So how’d you guys do?” He asked. “I know that our teacher showed our times, but that’s only a surface-level observation. I’m curious about what it was like for you?”

“I just made a temporary ice bridge.” Todoroki said. “It was pretty easy.”

“I threw up because I made myself weightless.” Uraraka added. “But I won anyway!”

Soon the conversation drifted into the traps, which he didn’t really care about, so he took out his phone and checked the news. The first two news items were pretty normal. Another copycat Stain/Kira inspired killer was caught, and Season 7 of Yokiya Adventura was delayed because of some drama between the voice actor for Yokiya Tikolia and one of the main writers for the story. Nothing really important.

Until, that was, he saw a report from Feel Good Media.

_ “Kira kills 458 criminals in one day! Psychology expert Shiyate Imawane gives her shocking psychological profile!” _

“So you had the gelatin as well! How sur- Hey Midoriya, are you OK?” Yaoyorozu asked, and oh his shock must be showing. He  _ knew _ he hadn’t written that many names in the notebook last night. Or ever. What did this mean then? Was there a second Death Note in the world?

Instead of replying, he showed Yaoyorozu and the rest of his friends(?) the article.

“Why hasn’t T been able to catch this villain?” Uraraka asked. “I mean, he’s caught every villain he’s investigated within a month or two! It’s been three months now!”

“Remember the broadcast, Uraraka.” Tsuyu replied. “T proved that Kira can kill from a distance, meaning he can probably have a pretty good alibi if questioned.”

Maybe he had been underestimating Tsuyu’s intelligence. She was very shrewd at observations, and she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. He should ask her some questions about what she thinks about Kira in the future.

“But I do think T is making progress.” He said. Which was true. T hadn’t put pressure on him lately, but he felt like the other shoe was going to drop any day now, and he was going to have to take drastic action in order to avoid being caught as Kira.

“Of course he is.” Yaoyorozu replied. “I don’t think there’s a villain alive that can evade T.”

Let’s hope that’s not the case. For his, and the worlds, sake.

“Indeed!” Iida added. “History has shown that in the end, justice will always prevail, and those who are good will triumph over those who are evil!”

Exactly! The world is broken, a house built on shifting sand. The evil people have convinced the world that they are good, and that those who try to stop them from gaining ever more power are “evil.” It’ll take a while, but people are waking up already. Eventually, the world will become a better place, where people don’t  _ need _ to be villains, just because they’re discriminated against.

“Justice will eventually come to the wicked.” He replied. A neutral statement with many meanings depending on who’s talking and who’s listening.

Even though all his information was accurate, he felt nervous walking to Principal Nezu’s office, the folder with all the information about the Numbers inside. Everything was completely different from the folder he had when he confronted 27. Everything was accurate, and he had double-checked everything involved. And in case the principal wanted an explanation of how he got this information, he added a fake way of how he got the information.

Before opening, he took a moment to press his ear to the door of the office, to see if he could hear anything. Silence.

He knocked on the door of the principal’s office twice. He heard a “come in”, so he opened the door. Principal Nezu was sitting on the couch in his office, a tea set on the table before him.

“Midoriya, would you care to have some tea? You came just on time so the tea is still pretty hot.” Principal Nezu said to him.

“I would, thank you.” He replied. Many people would be surprised by this, but he really didn’t like any sugar or cream in his tea or coffee. He has a sensitivity to sugar, so eating or drinking anything sweet tastes sickeningly sweet.

“Any sugar or cream?” Principal Nezu asked, putting in two spoonfuls of sugar in his own tea.

“No thank you, I have a sensitivity to sugar.” He replied, taking his tea and sipping it. Principal Nezu did know how to make tea, this one had a pretty delicate balance of flavors, if a bit bitter.

“I know, you listed it on your application.” Principal Nezu said. “Anyway, you said that you had found out information about the organization I requested?”

“Yes, I do.” He handed the principal the folder, nervousness in his gut and his heart pounding in his throat. This was the moment of truth, if all of the information he had done was worth it, if he had concealed his actions as Kira well enough.

The UA principal read through the report, flipping through the pages every so often, having the occasional slight reaction. After a few more minutes, he set the report down.

“This is very good, Midoriya. I think with your information local heroes can move in within the week. One more thing. I’m sure you heard of the recent news about the Kira killings drastically changing. What do you make of it?” Nezu asked him.

This was feeling like a test. What did the Principal want him to say? It was obvious something had changed, pretty much everyone with a brain could see that. Would bringing up a second Kira make him look more suspicious? No, with such a drastic change it would be obvious.

“I think there’s a possibility that someone else has acquired the power of Kira somehow, and is using it the same way Kira does.” He said.

“I thought the same thing, that’s why I want you to join the Kira task force.”

“You’re a part of the Kira task force?” He couldn’t help but ask. He hadn’t seen the principal’s name on the list of members, but it could just be that he provides occasional advice, working on the task informally or something similar.

“Not directly, I’m more of an advisor, but I have enough of a pull that you should be able to help. And this.” The principal lifted the folder. “Is excellent analysis. I think with your help, we’ll be able to catch Kira within the year.”

“I definitely think we can do that.” He said. “Anyway, I presume I’m going to keep this a secret from everyone, including All Might?”

“You presume right, Midoriya.” Nezu replied. “I trust you can make up an excuse for why you’re in my office?”

“Yes, I think I can.”

“Well then, unless you have something else to add, you are free to go.”

* * *

He’d been searching for his sperm donor in the crime registry, hoping that they’d bag him for  _ something _ . He knew the man was into all sorts of illegal shit, had probably never made an honest day’s work in his life. But he never expected to actually see the man (he refused to call the man his father) staring back at him, red eyes and bushy black hair staring back at him. His sperm donor’s list of aliases were listed right beside his profile, alongside his real name: Akashi Kiroto. There were six names in total, in addition to his real name. He looked at them, recording them in his memory: Midoriya Hisashi, Takahashi Ichiro, Hideki Tankito, Kazumi Haruto, Yamashi-Abrams Richard. The last one was an American-sounding name, so that was probably out. One by one, he eliminated the names until only one remained.

Midoriya Hisashi.   
This is how he’ll find his half-brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many of you forgot about the half-brother's plot? Be honest with me here.  
> Next Chapter: Options


	34. Operation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sports Festival is almost here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for yet another shorter chapter, I've been real fucking busy since Wednesday.   
> But, as promised, single traitor reveal at <100k words.

“Hero Nereus.” He called out, and said hero looked up. “Your crimes are multiple, including altering your patrol route to protect villains, and you accept bribes to ignore certain crimes.” The look of shock on the “hero’s” face showed his evidence was right. It was worrying exactly how many heroes were corrupt. Hosu only has about fifty heroes protecting it, and already three were proving to be fakes. The entire system was broken.

“You’re Stain!” The fake hero called out, summoning water from his fingertips. “I’ll show you what it means to be a true hero!” Strands of water rushed towards him. Predictable. He knew how this guy worked. Nereus’ quirk relied on the water being connected. He drew a katana he got specifically to fight Nereus (it was waterproofed and made from stainless steel), and sliced the tendrils. The water behind him falls to the ground. Easy.

Turns out Nereus was better at combat than he let on, dodging his initial slice, and sending a burst of water his way, larger than all the tendrils combined. But he evaded it, and sliced it apart. Nereus leapt backwards, sending more tendrils of water his way. Maybe he should retract his previous statement, this guy doesn’t know how to fight. Well maybe he does, but not well. His victory is assured.

Nereus sent a tendril of water at him again while dodging behind a wall. Another slice, and then he persued the fake hero. They ended up in an alleyway. It was obvious that Nereus hadn’t looked where he was going, because the alleyway was a dead end. The fake hero had noticed as well, but the guy seemed to be running with it, using tendrils of water to climb up the face of a building, while sending more water his way, which he again sliced through easily. He saw a fire escape parallel to where the fake hero was climbing up the building, not caring about the property damage he was doing. Well that seems to be a common theme among heroes. He got to the top a second before the fake hero and used the time to close the distance between himself and the fake hero. All he needed was a single nick on the fake, which he managed to snag when the fake went around a corner, he snagged a tiny cut with the very tip of his katana. Perfect. He licked the blood he got from the hero (A few drops, that’s all) and the fake collapsed to the ground. “Nereus, you clearly are a fake, and you deserve to die.”

It was a quick execution, and he disposed of the body in a nearby dumpster. Another fake down. Now it’s time to do the boring part, rescerching information into fakes. That’s when his phone started vibrating in his pocket. There were very few people that had his number, so it must be something important.

_ “Hey Stain, you’re well aware of how many supporters you have, although are you sure exactly how many?”  _ The voice of Dabi came through the phone. 

“I don’t really care about all that.” He replied, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. “I’ll stay in Hosu for a month longer, then move on.”

_ “No, you don’t get it. Seishin and I advertised a time and place on one of the more well-known Kira forums, and by our count, over a thousand people showed up. That’s proof that we have influence.”  _ Dabi said.  _ “I was thinking we could do something big.” _

“You’re neglecting one thing. Ever since Kira massively stepped up his killings, public support has dropped significantly.” He replied. He had been monitoring the forums for a while, and now that it was the second day of over 400 killings a day, it was falling further. Why had Kira changed his pattern?

_ “Someone else has the power of Kira, isn’t that obvious?”  _ Dabi said, sounding annoyed.  _ “And because of this, because Kira’s power is not unique, which means someone is giving away the power of Kira.” _

Oh that makes a lot of sense in that case. And he also noticed something else. “The first Kira still has his power, based on the fact that there’s still specific targets dying about once a day.”

_ “Yeah no shit.”  _ Dabi replied.  _ “So I think our best case scenario is to try to find this second Kira so we can get his power. I think the second Kira will be easier to find then the first.” _

“They’re in Japan, and most likely work in the justice system, based on the sheer volume of killings in such a short amount of time.” He said in response. “Besides that, I don’t have much of anything. We don’t have the resources that someone like All for One or T has, so we need to play this cleverly.”

_ “I’ll ask Spinner, Seishin, and Toga if they can trawl the forums for information. I’m expecting Seishin to find the most, because I’ve seen the guy like four times in total.” _

Oh yeah, Seishin. One of their most mysterious allies. Very knowledgeable, has one of the best costumes he’s seen, and has expert-level combat skills. Yet he rarely sees the guy, probably because he’s just a kid. Fourteen at the oldest. Probably goes to school, has homework, and stuff like that. He’d tried to convince Seishin not to go through joining, and gave him every opportunity to leave. Well that’s all he can do, and he doesn’t want to reveal Seishin’s true age to All for One or Shigaraki, so he feels stuck.

“Well you know as well as I do that Seishin is pretty young. Anything else, Dabi?”

_ “Nope. Good hunting, Stain.” _ and then Dabi hung up. The guy was pretty rude sometimes. Whatever. He put his phone away. Another time. Of course that’s when he heard a scream.

Dammit. He had to help at this point. Ever since Kira showed up, he had fallen back to somewhere in the middle ground of Stendhal and Stain, so he was still doing vigilante acts.

He was still standing on the rooftop, and he saw a kid who looked homeless and had an old, rusty knife, and a surprisingly good stance, facing off against four villains. He recognized who that villain group was. Well looks like it’s time to intervene. There was a fire escape nearby, so he used that to descend within only a few seconds, and finished off the trash villains in less than a minute.

He turned around and saw the kid, standing there shaking with his rusty knife. He grabbed one of his “Survival knives” (It had serrations near the handle, and some basic supplies in the handle), and handed it to the kid. “Here, take this. It’ll help you out.” It was just a knife, and he could get another one easier enough (Actually, the balance on this knife was a bit off, so he might want a slightly better one. It’s only going to be a small improvement, but he knows that slight advantages are the difference between victory and defeat. And he can  _ never _ afford to lose.

* * *

_ “Group 473 has all been arrested.”  _ Sensei said from his computer screen.  _ “Tomura. I want you to check on Group 185, they’re one of the only groups left.” _

Dammit. He thought that he could use T trying to find Kira to protect more of Sensei’s groups, but it looks like that didn’t stop him.

“You think you can make a new group?” He asked. “I mean, you have to have a second game plan.”

_ “I have something going on, although it’s not going to bear fruit for a couple months. We may have to castle sometime in the future to avoid checkmate, as we just lost one of our knights. Kira is a wildcard in this game, but they’re slated generally against us at this point. I still haven’t found anything about either Kira that T hasn’t, but I haven’t found much of anything. _

_ “Making a new piece takes time, Tomura. Months and years, which is why it’s annoying that everything I’ve built for over 200 years is being torn down.” _

“Yes, I have a plan in Hosu.” he replied. “Do you have any Nomu?”

_ “There’s four ready, of course none of them are on the level of the Nomu you had at the USJ, but they’re still pretty powerful.” _

“That’s fine. I’ll use these mobs to benefit the gameplay.” He replied.

_ “What about Stain’s group? Have you heard anything about what they’re doing? I know they’re a tenuous ally at best, but surely you know something.” _

“I know a little, but I’m going to have a meeting with Stain after the Sports Festival, we’ll see how Stain feels about our game strategy. He’s a fellow PC that has a different alignment, so working together is difficult.”

_ “Work well, Tomura. I hope your game plan is successful.” _

“I won’t disappoint you, Sensei.”

* * *

“I think there’s a second Kira.” Tsuyu said when they were eating dinner (fresh from Lunch Rush, because this time Aoyama tried to make something “Sparkly” and somehow melted a pot to the stove), “What do you think, Midoriya?”

“I think that makes sense.” He replied. He  _ knew _ there was a second Kira, and he was currently hunting him down for the purpose of relieving him of his Death Note. “With the sudden glut of murders.”

“I think it’s despicable.” Iida spoke up. “Some of those killed are already in prison, so they shouldn’t get killed!”

“It’s scary to think that at any time you could get cut down by a supervillain.” Uraraka said. “It’s frightening. What do you think about it, Todoroki?”

“UA is protecting us, so I think we’ll be fine.” Todoroki said. “And plus, I don’t think Kira would kill you, if you have a good reason to be a hero anyways.”

He saw Uraraka tense up a bit. “Well… I sorta became a hero for the money.” She admitted.

Out of all people, he didn’t expect  _ Uraraka _ to be a hero for the money. But he waited, maybe he had an explanation.

“Well my parents own a construction company, but several of the largest construction companies have been pushing my parents out of business, so we’re pretty poor. I want to become a hero so I can support them if they decide to retire.”

He was glad he waited before making an opinion, because Uraraka actually had a pretty good reason to be a hero.

“There is nothing unheroic about providing for your family!” Iida exclaimed. “There’s nothing more heroic about helping someone else!”

He had to agree with Iida on this. Uraraka definitely was a hero for the right reasons. Well, not entirely, but it was more than black-and-white. She’s considering the practical aspects of heroism, something a lot of people (himself included) haven’t thought about.

“Iida’s right.” He said, after swallowing the food that had been in his mouth. “If you work hard, you can most certainly provide for your parents.”

“Thanks, guys!” Uraraka said aloud. “I was worried for a bit. Anyways, why did all of you guys want to be a hero?”

“I wanted to be a hero just like my older brother!” Iida replied almost immediately. “Someone who is effective in saving a lot of people!”

Of course he had a reason to be a hero. He was going to become the Symbol of Change, overturning how the world once was, and replacing it with something new, a better and more just world. There would be no dissuading him from the task he assigned himself. It’d be something he sees to the very end.

But he couldn’t express this out loud. As much as he hated it, people hated change, they wanted the world to stay the same. It was convenient, ignoring the fact they weren’t as pure, just, and as good a person as they think they are. A problem that needs fixing. He  _ wants _ people to feel uncomfortable with the status quo, he  _ wants _ people to get off of their asses and  _ do _ something! He hated that people think dodging the truth and posting on social media about how virtuous they are when they ignore problems staring them in the fucking face!

Breathe Izuku, in and out. In and out.

“My parents run a support equipment company. One of the things they make is prosthetics. I want to be a hero to prevent people from getting hurt in the first place.”

“Won’t that put your parents out of business?” He asked out of curiosity.

“I’m not worried, they do all sorts of things.” She replied. “I heard from them that they intentionally don’t make a profit on the prosthetics because they dislike having to make them, so I’m doing what they want!”

That’s good, then. It makes sense, after all. 

“I wanted to be a hero because I wanted to save people. Kero.” Tsuyu said. “I’ve always been good at helping people out.”

Alrighty, he’ll go next. 

“I wanted to be a hero just like All Might! Saving everyone with a smile.” He said. For some reason, Todoroki’s eyes narrowed at him almost imperceptibly. Strange. “What about you, Todoroki?”

“I want to become the Number One hero.” Was all Todoroki said, before getting up and putting his bowl into the dishwasher.

At first, he thought Todoroki was just like Bakugo, but he felt something was  _ off _ about him. A crucial piece of the puzzle he was missing. Just what exactly was he missing?

* * *

Hu-Jindao Zian walked into a room, where six people in suits were sitting in a semicircle. They knew what this was about, after all they read the report given to them. It was supposedly a “performance evaluation”, but most likely it was another attempt to push them out of being a hero. Still, they were wearing their best suit, their favorite red tie, and a stern expression. 

“Hello, Sirs and madams.” They said, sitting down in the chair on the straight side of the semicircle, noting the fact there were three women and three men. “What are we talking about this performance evaluation?”

“There’s been calls lately for your retirement.” One of the women, the oldest-looking one, streaks of grey in her hair, and piercing red eyes. “You know how much of a controversial hero you are.”

“Indeed I do.” They replied. “I’ve been used to this controversy ever since I became a hero at 18.”

The older woman grabbed a folder, and looked through the papers. “People have been posting online lists of chinese heroes, villains, and civilians you should eliminate. You can see why this is worrying to the government, as some of them are government officials.”

The government officials  _ should _ be scared, maybe they’d actually stop this damn civil war.

“We’re with the Federal Army.” An older man spoke up. He had short grey-white hair, and two goat’s horns on either side of his ears, and a thicker forehead. “We want you to retire being a Pro Hero and sign on with the Federal Army. We’re willing to pay three and a half billion yuan as a sign-on bonus, and an additional hundred million yen every year for you to join the Federal Army.”

Oh it was  _ this _ type of meeting. They get offers from each side in the civil war for over a decade now. They hate it. They have a response they’ve made for this situation.

“I respectfully have to decline your offer. I assure you I never check any of those lists, and I wish to continue being a hero. Thank you for the offer.” And they accompanied it with a bow. They gave the six a second look, just to be sure, and then left.

Damn they hated politics.

* * *

Izuku looked at his phone. The Sports Festival was tomorrow, and he should really get some sleep. But here he was, on his computer, hunting for information on the second Kira. 456 criminals died every day all around the world, many of them for only minor offenses, such as robbers. He needed to relive this “Kira” of his Death Note as soon as he could possibly do so.

“Hey Ryuk, a Shinigami must’ve brought a Death Note to the human world. Who do you think it could be?” He asked. Ryuk had a lot of knowledge of the Shinigami realm, so maybe he knew who had brought the note down.

“Fingal.” Ryuk replied immediately. “His 624 year ban from taking a notebook and bringing it to the human world expired just before the first wave of death. So yeah, it’s probably Fingal, the guy’s obsessed with the human world.”

“Well, I’m not so sure about the eye deal, but I’ll still be able to find the second Kira without it.” He brought up a police report, showing the times of death. “This Kira is pretty careless. Actually, I shouldn’t really call him Kira. But I’m not good at names, and the world thinks this is Kira, so Kira it is. All the deaths occur between the times of 1857 and 1957. Meaning, that after he eats dinner, Kira takes an hour a day to write down 456 names.

“There’s many things that can be deduced from this. The second Kira is very regimented, as he’s held this pattern for four days. Also, this Kira’s writing down an average of 7.6 names a minute, meaning this Kira most likely has access to a list of criminals, meaning he has a job in the justice system. Most of the names are Japanese, so the second Kira is in Japan.”

“Woah, Izuku, you’re pretty good at this.” Ryuk said. “Anything else?”

“As of now, I can’t find out any more based on the information I have. I have some theories about which region the second Kira is in, but nothing concrete. I’ll have to work alongside Principal Nezu and the rest of the investigative staff. Maybe I’ll find T this way.”

He heard Ryuk laughing. The Shinigami knew something he didn’t, and he knew Ryuk well enough that the Shinigami wouldn’t tell him. Damn that Shinigami.

“You know, Izuku.” The Shinigami said. “When you have the Shinigami Eyes, you won’t be able to see someone who is in possession of a Death Note’s lifespan. So if you accept the eye deal, you’ll be able to find the second Kira.”

“No.” He said, raising his voice slightly. “I don’t need your damn Shinigami eyes. Never remind me of their existance again.”

Everyone else (as far as he knew) was asleep, but he wanted to keep his voice as level as possible. Plus, he didn’t want to give Ryuk the pleasure of riling him up. And he’d rejected the eye deal out of spite. Since when has he done things easily? His life had been one long struggle his entire life, his only resource was his brain. But now he has the strength of All Might, and a notebook with immense power to boot. He has enough power to change the world, and anyone in his place should do the same.

To not to was irresponsible,  _ no,  _ it was criminal. And this new Kira was wasting the powers of the Death Note. “I’m going to find someone worthy of the Death Note Ryuk. I don’t know who that is yet, but I’ll find someone worthy. Maybe Dabi.”

Although, he’d probably only give Dabi a page, if that. 

“I should probably get to bed. It’s pretty late.” He told the Shinigami, before passing out on his bed.

* * *

_ “I have a task for you.”  _ Shigaraki said from the other line, as soon as she picked up the phone.   
That single line scared her. She had done so much for him. Kill people, blackmail, steal, lie, everything. Hell, she had even done drugs two years ago to get an in with an underground organization.

“What is it, Shigaraki?” She asked. “There’s not really much I can do, I’m stuck at UA for the foreseeable future.”

_ “Don’t worry about that. All you need to worry about is finding information about the quirks of your classmates by watching the Sports Festival. Make a few discrete observations, you know the deal.”  _ Shigaraki said.  _ “I’m relying on you, you know.” _

“Yes I’m well aware of that, thank you.” She replied. “Anything else for me Shigaraki?”

_ “Not for now. Just make sure Crafter’s still loyal. I think he’s questioning if staying with us is really worth the effort.” _

“I’m seeing some of the same things. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll stay loyal because I know he’s watching.”

Shigaraki hung up after that. Rude.

She can make discrete observations no problem. It comes easy when you’re invisible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Festival


	35. Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prequel for the Sports Festival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, when I said I might have slightly inconsistent uploads.... *Rubs back of head*  
> Here's your chapter, Emjoy :)

“What’s the whole point of the whole Sports Festival?” Ryuk asked him as he woke up in the morning. “I mean, it doesn’t make much sense to me.”

“Well the Sports Festival is important for two reasons. The first is that it partially replaced the Olympics, and millions of people all around Japan watch the Sports Festival.” He brought up an article showing a graph of recent viewing. “There’s also a second purpose, this is my chance to get noticed by major hero agencies, and as a result of that, progress further as a Pro Hero. UA is special in this regard.”

“I don’t get why you would do this, sounds boring.” Ryuk replied. “Apples sound better.”

“Well of course you’d say that, it’s pretty important to me though. People will hear the name of the hero Dauntless.” He explained. “Anyways, it’s almost time for me to have breakfast.”

“I don’t get why you’re doing all of this. Doesn’t make sense.” Ryuk said. “You’d have more time to find criminals if you stop, you know.”

“Kira is only part of my grand strategy, Ryuk, working as a great deterrent to criminals in the shadows. As the hero Dauntless, I’ll be able to prevent villains before they begin. This is a broken world Ryuk, but I have to believe that it can be fixed.”

Oh, he just remembered, he always did a morning run and then a shower before breakfast, so he got changed into running clothes. Downstairs, it was unsurprising to see Iida there, drinking a glass of orange juice.

“Going for a morning run, Midoriya?” Iida asked when he looked up.

“Yeah, It’ll hopefully help calm my nerves before the Sports Festival begins.” He replied. “Hey, did you want to run together? Maybe that’ll help.”

“Sure! Just give me a couple of minutes. You know the Red route?” Iida asked, finishing up his orange juice and putting the glass into the dishwasher.

“I do. Is that where you wanted to go?” He asked. The Red route was a bit short, barely over half a mile. But they did need to save energy for the upcoming Sports Festival, which was in about an hour.

“Yes! I think it’s the perfect route for this morning. And we should take it easy, I’ve seen you during training Midoriya.” Iida said.

Ah right. He’s surrounded by hero students, who are going to be trained to be good at observations, and some of his classmates are already really observant and perceptive. It’s going to be hard as hell to get through three years of school with the secrets he held. But since when had he done things the easy way? Hard as hell was his way of life, a constant uphill battle he had fought since the age of four.

“Ok, fine.” He admitted. “Without quirks? Just naturally run it?”

“An excellent idea, Midoriya. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

The Red route was one of the easier routes through the facilities of UA (which was a city in it’s own right, pretty much), marked off with pristine red ticks, a half-mile route. He completed it alongside Iida in a few minutes. He wasn’t even sweating, but it really did calm his overactive brain. He didn’t even  _ try _ to touch UA’s security (He’d been on a fair few hacking threads on some of the larger Kira forums, and he’s heard  _ tales _ of what happens to those who try to break in), so all the information he had about the events in the Sports Festival was the previous events.

The third event was always a tournament-style one-on-one matchup. The pattern had been maintained for the past 47 years, but who knows? Nezu’s the type of person to change stuff up. However, the first two rounds can vary wildly. The first round was mainly for trimming down the fat, as it were. Ways to eliminate large amounts of people for the next round. Capture the flag, obstacle courses, fighting robots, all sorts of things.

The second event is usually some sort of team event, probably showing how well people work when they have to team up, or it would be an event that builds on the first event, but putting a twist on the rules as it were.

Although maybe he should expect something different this time. He heard rumors from other students, casually walking by the teacher’s lounge. Apparently the Japanese government allocated UA a larger budget for the Sports Festival, and the events are going to “reflect what it means to be a true hero.”

So the reform was starting already, it seemed. He would’ve expected it to take years for the change to start, putting pressure on the HSPC and other agencies to reform, but there’s a potential for there being change after only a few months.

Maybe the world isn’t as broken as he thought it was.

* * *

“Unfortunately, we did a consumer review and determined you’re not a good fit for the company, so we’re letting you go. I apologize for the inconvenience.” His boss announced, not looking at all sorry. “Of course, I am willing to provide you with a recommendation for any future employment.”

Which was the polite, clinical way of saying “You’re ugly fucking face is scaring away customers, even though you can’t control your scars, we’re firing you’re ugly ass.” Dabi really wished people were more fucking honest. A better world like Stain and Kira wanted to create. 

And since he had to be  _ polite _ , he didn’t go off on this guy, demanding to be swapped into the kitchen. Instead he gave a slight bow, gave a copy-pasted reply he could rattle off without thinking at this point.

This hadn’t been the first time he’d been fired for his appearance. This was number 37. And he couldn’t fucking complain about it because he gave a fake name and the people that hired him knew that shit.

At least this guy was polite about it. Maybe he’d even get his last paycheck. He walked out of the crappy fast food store, stomach gurgling. It was only 7am. He had woken up bright fucking early just to be fired. And he  _ needed _ some cash stat. Of course he’d be looking for yet another job, but he needed some fucking money  _ now _ .

Well, back to mugging people it is. The area of town they were in was definitely not the best, and he had been here for quite some time, a month or two, so he could tell locals from outsiders. After about an hour, he saw what might be the perfect target. It was an older man, probably a little older than middle age, neatly combed black hair, pretty fancy suit. What was this guy doing in this area? Well that’s not a problem for him. He had to make a guess as to this guy’s route, taking a couple of lefts down the block, which resulted in him now heading the opposite direction of his mark. Good.

He casually bumped into the guy, nimble fingers reaching into the pocket where he saw the outline of a wallet, grabbing the wallet and then pulling his hand away.

His hand was stopped by something. He looked down and saw a bloodred hand coming out of this guy’s thigh, grabbing his hand.

Fuck.

The guy turned around, and he could get a better look at him. He did look a bit old, but like he knew what he was doing in this situation.

Double fuck.

“Do you really want to do this?” The guy asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

Triple fuck.

Saying something would make it worse. So he said nothing.

“Do you really want to do this?” The guy repeated.

No way he’s saying anything. But at this point, not talking would make things worse. Sure he could bag this guy for illegal quirk use, but who are the police going to believe? Him? Ha fuck no. Nobody’s ever believed him before when he said shit.

Instead of saying a verbal response, he shook his head.

“You need a job, I presume?”

He nodded his head this time.

“Well I’m not about to hire a stranger on the spot, but Kitaya’s on the intersection of 47th and Takeji is hiring cooks.”

A second head nod.

The guy then resumed his walking, although the hand was still holding him, extending out of this guy’s thigh until it was five or six meters in length, and then snapping back into this guy’s thigh. Then a human-looking face extended out of the back of this guy’s suit jacket, looking at him with narrowed yellow eyes. He was rooted in place, even though the hand that was holding his wrist was gone now.

The fuck was this guy’s quirk? Some sort of eldritch horror? He’d seen some crazy quirks out on the streets, people who had been through shit, their lives dragged through the mud just because of how “villainous” their quirks are.

What made this guy so different from all the other people, where he got to enjoy a good life while other people got thrown out in the street? Probably money. That’s the main reason he supports Stain and Kira, they’re going to change the world for the better.

* * *

“What did you want me to do during the Sports Festival?” He asked, arms and legs trembling. Every time Shigaraki called he was expecting the villain to call him out on wanting to  _ get away. _ Why was it easier to be a traitor then escaping? Well the solution is simple, easy.

He feared Shigaraki more than he felt protected at UA.

_ “Nothing much, just make sure to not do too well. We don’t want you to be suspicious. I’m going to be watching the festival, you can just give me the names of the people I ask for.”  _ The voice of Shigaraki came through the phone, with his perpetually slightly annoyed tone.  _ “Sensei told me to do my own observations, and I want my in with  _ him.  _ Any luck with your ‘friend’?” _

“I think so. He might be the in you need.” Shigaraki wanted to undermine Stain’s group and fold them into the League, that was his master plan anyways. Or that was his interpretation. 

_ “Well, he’s pretty flaky, so who knows the next time you’ll have a chance to talk. Maybe I can get him to talk to you over the phone. He seems like the type of guy to do that sort of thing. Are there any people of interest?” _

Ah, the meat of their conversation. “I mean, I’m damn sure that Midoriya’s hiding something.”

_ “Who’s that?” _

“Fluffy green hair, kinda short, strength enhancement quirk that creates lightning around him. Yeah that’s Midoriya.”

_ “I’ve taken note of him as well. Likes to intervene in problems. Well, don’t fuckind die I guess.” _

“Thanks, Asshole.”

Shigaraki hung up. Like he said, asshole. Sure he’s a villain, but that doesn’t excuse being an asshole. Well he might as well head downstairs, grab some coffee, and not fucking die.

* * *

“You shouldn’t drink coffee before such an important event!” Iida yelled out. “You should try something healthier!”

The coffee machine had seen quite a bit of use, as several of his classmates have already made use of it, and everyone wasn’t even up yet!

“Iida, I drink coffee every day.” He replied, taking another sip of the life-giving drink. “It’s fine.”

Iida seemed to give up at that point. He’ll take this little victory. At that point the group chat decided to ping with a notification, meaning two things: either Bakugo left (for the 37th time), or someone had @’ed him.

**Ass-hido[0735]: @MIzuku** who do you think is going to win the sports festival?

Ah, so it was the latter. Usually he didn’t interact with the class group chat (He had sent three messages total, over the past week), but this was something he was thinking about for a while. Was he going to win? Hell no. Not a chance. Well… maybe a small chance, but unlikely.

**MIzuku[0736]:** I think it’s most likely either Todoroki or Bakugo are going to win, but who knows, maybe the events will get changed up, and someone else will win. That’s what I like about the Sports Festival, it’s full of surprises!

Aaand there’s his only message for the day, most likely for several days. But that’s fine, he has more important things to do than sending messages. He has a Sports Festival to… Win? Maybe. Unlikely. But he’ll do his best. Who knows what will come of the festival, especially with the likely possibility of increased funding.

He had just left the locker rooms. In order to protect their identities, UA gave them masks that apparently covered their faces enough. So yeah, that’s cool enough. They’re in a waiting room right now, about to head into the main arena where they would compete. He was sitting up against a wall, just casually sitting there, until Todoroki got up and walked up to him.

“Midoriya. You’re pretty strong, right? That’s fine, I’ll still beat you. You can call this a declaration of war, if you like.” Todoroki said in his usual deadpan tone, and then walked back to his seat.

He blinked. Once then twice, then he bit his tongue. Nope, this was real. What had triggered this sudden declaration from Todoroki?

“Oi!” Bakugo yelled out. “Get away from that weakling. If you’re looking for a challenge you should really be looking at me!”

And then Bakugo started chasing Todoroki around, yelling and popping explosions from his hands.

Eventually they left the waiting room and went to another room, to wait. A person came out and handed him a mask. It was perfectly molded to his facial features (How exactly they got this information was beyond him, it’s a bit scary. It made him think about how well he really was hiding himself as Kira), but beyond that, it was pretty simplistic. A modified domino mask, extending down his cheeks a little bit, but mostly being centered on the area around his eyes. It was primarily dark green, with a few stripes of navy blue and black. So basically the colors of his hero costume (which he did want to revisit sometime in the future, consulting designers on the specific colors of his costume. Sure darker colors were cool for underground heroes, but for public heroes it was a different story, but that’s a thought for after the Sports Festival.) He was standing in a well-lit hallway, a large doorway closed with two large white automatic doors. But even here, he could hear the crowds of people cheering. He couldn’t really compare the sounds of crowds to anything else, it was a unique sound, he could hear it even from here.

Once again, he felt his nerves spike. But he’s not going to let that stop him. A conversation he had with All Might a few days ago.

_ “I’m sort of worried about the Sports Festival. It’s going to affect my hero career for the remainder of this year, or maybe more.” He said, sitting back in the comfy chair. “I’m worried about my performance.” _

_ “Don’t be, young Midoriya.” All Might- or Yagi in this form, said, putting an emaciated hand on his shoulder. It was surprisingly warm, but felt fragile, like it would snap with the lightest push of effort. “You’ll do well, I know that whatever you do, you’ll do your best. Me, Gran, and everyone else have helped you. And I think you’re ready to tell the world ‘I am here!’. You can become the new Symbol of Peace, I know you can.” _

_ Except the problem is that he doesn’t want to be a Symbol of Peace. He wants to be a Symbol of Change in the world, a rock in the swirling storm that would be created, already in the start of being created, by Kira. But he held his tongue. He could play the game of being a Symbol of Peace… _

_ He looked at All Might, and he knew there was a determined look on his face, eyes narrowed, a grin on his face that’s almost villainous. “I can do it, All Might.” _

“Hello everyone!” Present Mic’s announcer voice was loud, even from where he was. “It’s time to introduce the classes for the Sports Festival! Our first class, who’s already gone through an encounter with real villains, Class 1-A!!”

The doors opened at that point, revealing the crowd, who cheered even more when they walked out. He couldn’t help but feel nervous. This was a large crowd. Like, a really large crowd. 100k plus. Don’t worry about them, Izuku. You have your own worries to take care off.

“And the other hero course, Class 1-B!”

Another set of doors opened, and the other hero class was revealed. Although, their entrances were a bit biased… 

“And the general education classes, 1-C, D, and E! The Support classes, 1-F, G, H! The business classes, 1-I, J, K! And finally, the management classes, 1-L, M, N!”

And those introductions were even worse. He knew the ugly truth about the sports festival. Aside from the occasional support or general studies classes, and maybe one from the business or management classes (They can choose whether or not to compete, or use this as an opportunity to learn), all of the people that move on to the second round were entirely the two hero course classes. 

He looked up onto the stage in the center of the arena. And to his surprise, there was Midnight. Whose idea was it to have Midnight run the first-years stage? He trusted her not to be… Rated-R with the first-years but still it’s definitely not his first choice. Maybe someone like Snipe. Yeah that’d be cool.

“Do you really think that Midnight should really be like this in front of teenagers?” He heard Tokoyami ask from somewhere behind him.

“Anyway!” The loud voice of Present Mic came from the box he was in. “Every student is equipped with a mask, to protect their identity! In this new world, you can’t really be too safe! Also, assisting me in hosting this festival is the hero Eraserhead! Say something, C’mon!”

“Let’s get this started. I might say something and I might not.” Came the tired voice of Eraserhead. 

“Aaand introducing, our host for this event, our very own host… Midnight!” Present Mic continued, nonplussed with Eraserhead’s tired dismissal.

Midnight strode from one side of the stage to the other. “Well, well, well. Another new batch of hopefuls, each and every single one of you thinking you can win. Well the truth is, only one of you can win. Well that’s why we’re going to send you through three excruciating tasks!” Midnight accompanied that with a crack of her whip, which of course made Midoriya think. Was this a persona she acted on, or her real self? Maybe he’ll ask her later.

“But before all of that, It’s time for the Athlete’s Oath, presented by the victor of the entrance exam, our very own explosive hero, Flashpoint!”

This was the first time he had heard Bakugo’s hero name. At least it wasn’t “King Explosion Murder”. So what about Todoroki and Iida? Did they choose a hero name as well? Well he’ll find out sometime in the future.

He watched as Bakugo walked up to the stage, and then to the mic.

“I’m going to say this right now. I’m going to win.”

There were various expressions of shock and surprise, save for himself. Of course Bakugo would say something like that. But it wasn’t something that Bakugo would say if he knew he was going to win, it was to hype himself up.

So the competition is on then, isn’t it Bakugo?

“You all are going to make good stepping stones on my path to victory.” Bakugo added, walking off the stage. 

Silence. Absolute silence followed Bakugo’s short “speech”. Not surprising, really. He didn’t really know what to say himself.

“Well after that rousing speech, It’s time for us to start off our great adventure with the first event!” Midnight called out, and then spun a giant virtual wheel. Eventually, it landed on “Obstacle Course.”

“Your first task is going to be an obstacle course!” Midnight exclaimed.

“The obstacle course!” Yelled out Present Mic. “A ten kilometer specially-built route around the stadium! All sorts of barriers and traps await the students! You’re free to do anything you want on the route, just remember this is a race, not a deathmatch, so keep the attacking people to a minimum, kay?”

There was a loud clicking noise, as sections of wall folded and twisted back, revealing a far too narrow entrance gate. So the very first obstacle would be the entrance itself. One of the easiest ways to create an obstacle, a narrowing. What else is going to be down the path? Is it going to be just like the recommendation practical? Or is there going to be something completely different? There was a light on the other side, most likely daylight, and the rest of the tunnel was dark. They would be starting at any moment, probably without a countdown. He reached inside to the core within his body, where One for All was stored. He released 9% of One for All, letting it flow through his limbs, viridian electricity sparking around him. It wasn’t  _ really  _ electricity, it was more like extra energy spilling out, it happened whenever he activated One for All at above 2.5%, a fact he kept to himself.

“Match Start!” Present Mic yelled out.

He jumped forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Determination


	36. Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeet yide im dying inside.
> 
> anyway, first round of the sports festival, yay :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for short/late/absent/whatever else is wrong with this chapter.  
> I've been busy this entire week and I somehow managed to write a chapter. Enjoy.
> 
> I'm honestly surprised I wrote this in the time I had tbh.  
> So yeah.

Turns out that jumping forward was the right idea, as he landed and then took a second running leap, he saw ice creeping along the ground. Todoroki’s work most likely. 

“And with a single move, Ice Shot freezes over most of the competition! An excellent start to the first year's sports festival!” The loud voice of Present Mic announced, and yes he could still hear the Voice Hero from here. “Most people watch the second or third year’s, but something is telling me that watching the first year’s is going to be a great show!”

He turned his head to see that he wasn’t the only one to escape the ice. Yaoyorozu had created a metal pole, Tsu did the same thing he did, and some of his other classmates and friends managed to escape the ice. Not surprising, although this was far from Todoroki’s maximum output. He probably has some sort of limit, which is why the ice was more limited.

One for All didn’t really have a limit as far as he was aware. It was a massive pool of  _ power _ , a great lake he could only bring a trickle out at a time, so he wasn’t really worried about quirk exhaustion. Still, he should be wary of everyone else.

“Looks like several people have escaped Ice Shot’s initial attack! A lot of them from class 1-A! What do you make of this Eraserhead?”

True to Present Mic’s announcement, even more of his classmates escaped the initial ice trap. Ojiro, Tokoyami, Iida, Bakugo, Ashido and Uraraka all managed to escape, and that’s just what he saw in the couple of glances he took back. Todoroki was still in the front, and he needed to catch up.

_ “It’s easy. My class learned not to hesitate. They’ve seen real villains, and know how dangerous the world really is.”  _ The tired voice of Aizawa came from the speakers. How Present Mic managed to get Aizawa into this was beyond him. Well that’s for later, now he needs to run the rest of the obstacle course.

Robots started appearing, with labels of one, two and three on them. These must be the robots from the normal entrance exam. These should be easy to take out with 10% One for All. Bouncing from threebot to threebot, while Todoroki just blasted them with ice. After a while there was a large rumbling sound, and over a dozen robots the size of  _ buildings _ appeared.

“Our first obstacle…. Robo Inferno!” Yelled out Present Mic. “This’ll seperate the men from the boys, as the saying goes! How will our contestants handle these massive robots?”

Well, in his case, he’ll just dodge around them. It took him three leaps in a row to get on top of the head robot, and then jump from robot to robot.

“And look at that, Dauntless takes the lead! Going between the massive robots in a deadly dance! That’s the sports festival for you all!”

Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration Present Mic. It’s not a  _ deadly _ dance, just slightly dangerous. One for All gave him enhanced durability, so a fall of ~10-15 meters wouldn’t be that bad. He felt the air pick up from behind him, and get colder as well. Todoroki’s ice. There was one robot left, so he evaded a slowly moving arm and landed on the other side, just as about half of the robots became covered in ice. Damn was Todoroki’s quirk powerful. Exactly how much ice could Todoroki produce? He’d have to ask later.

“And Ice Shot takes down all the robots with a glacial attack! Impressive!”

When he turned his head, he could see from here that the robots had been frozen in unstable positions, so they would fall pretty soon. There was a loud sound that was most likely metal grinding against metal, and then a crashing noise. Ah that was the robots falling. Hopefully people noticed the falling robots, and either weren’t in the way or had durability quirks like Kirishima.

“And the robots were frozen in unstable positions, so they all fell down! How cold!”

Well, Present Mic was right, the robots were most likely a makeshift wall of twisted metal and shards of ice. It might be interesting to see how the other people handle the barrier, but he’s still got most of the race ahead of him. No time to waste. At least the empty grounds of the race were pretty easy to use his quirk for. That was until he encountered what looked like several city blocks, right on the middle of the track.

“Our second trap, the City Maze! There are dozens of paths through this urban jungle, but only a single right one! Navigation of this metropolitan sprawl will be difficult and time-consuming! This’ll give some of the stragglers time to catch up, but don’t count out the people in front!” Present Mic yelled out. “And the city is also full of traps to waste your time even more!”

He saw the city closer up now. It was less of a city and more of a multilevel, three-dimensional, labyrinth (although based on how it was described by Present Mic, it’s a maze not a labyrinth.)

Well, he might as well do this the same way he evaded the robots. The “city” was about ten stories tall, which converted to two or three leaps with One for All. First leap, a ledge leading to a dark hallway, about five and a half storied up. He leapt into the sky, aiming for the ledge he saw. Of course he underestimated the jump, and didn’t land on the platform exactly, but he did manage to catch the ledge.

He let out a grunt of pain as his arms pulled in his sockets. But he pulled himself up and landed on the ledge. A second leap, this time to a platform about three and a half meters up from his position. He didn’t have a running leap this time, so it was a bit more of a struggle. Still, he successfully managed to get himself on the next platform. Now that he was nine meters up, getting to the top was a piece of cake. He didn’t even have to use One for All to get himself up to the platform, climbing up the remaining brickwork. The top of the city-maze looked exactly like the wall he saw before. His danger sense went off, and he jumped to the side. A foam-covered fist, just like the ones during the platform training, shot out. Was this all? Of course it wasn’t, because his danger sense went off again, and he leapt back again so now he was beside the fist. There was a leg trap that came out of the ground. Well looks like whoever designed this put a ton of traps on the roof. Well he can hopefully outrun these traps. Keyword is hopefully. So he took off running, dodging around the holes in the rooftop, the sounds of traps and other things going off behind him. Well at least it’s behind him now. This is actually pretty boring…

Of course at that point Karma decided to target him specifically, and he landed on a false platform that deposited him somewhere in the middle of the city-maze. Well he only has about thirty or so meters of the city-maze left. He ran forward, it was still dark enough to see, but the way forward was blocked by a wall. Rather than going from left to right, he smashed through the wall in front of him. Well it wasn’t an All Might-style smash, he actually kicked the wall. He had really good shoes, so he didn’t feel a thing. He had to blink once or twice from the bright light on the other side, but he went into a mock-up living room and exited through a window. He had to give it to the designers of the city-maze, they did a really good job on this.

“And Dauntless goes up and through the city-maze like it’s nothing! Can anything stop this kid! Dauntless has a super strength quirk, increasing his physical abilities many times over! A perfectly balanced quirk that can be used in almost every scenario! Let’s see how this all pans out. However, this obstacle course will test  _ everything  _ it means to be a hero on the job, and it’s still pretty early on, so anything can still happen!

“And Ice Shot follows quickly in Dauntless’ wake!” Present Mic called out, and Izuku felt the cold air that came with Todoroki’s ice, so he did have to watch out. “Ice Shot can create massive amounts of ice just with the swipe of his hand! He’s Endeavor’s son as well, so his skills are all top-notch!

“However everyone, Flashpoint, Ingenion, and Froppy are following close behind! All in all, it’s a pretty close race folks, let’s see what happens on the next obstacle!”

Izuku felt a small amount of tiredness inside of him. Well that’s to be expected,he hadn’t really used One for All for so long before. But UA’s motto is Plus Ultra after all, right? So he might as well fight through how he felt and win this thing. Until he saw an area that expanded out, and four towers that looked pretty strange. As he approached, the towers activated, and there was a red wall in front of him that went far, far, into the sky. If he had to guess about twenty meters, and there was a small gap a mere three meters tall. The towers had turrets on top of them.

“The first part of this trap, the Anti-jump system. This patented Laser Wall isn’t lethal, but it doesn’t feel all good when you hit it. So far, Dauntless has been able to pass through the two barriers by jumping over them, but not this time! And if anyone tries to jump over, these turrets fire nets to entrap them! They’re heat and impact resistant nets as well. All in all, amazing work!”

What the hell? Since when did UA have the budget for a  _ laser wall  _ of all things? Well looks like he’s not going to jump anymore it seems. And there’s most certainly traps in the zone. Pitfalls and the like, most likely.

Still, he ran into the no-jump zone without hesitation. Whatever traps are here, he can handle them. The earth moved and twisted beneath him, and creatures of rock and earth appeared in front of him.

“The next trap is courtesy of the Pro Hero Earthmover, cousin to one of the Wild Wild Pussycats, Pixie-Bob! Golems of Stone and Earth to make some trouble! How will the contestants in the lead handle this task? Let’s find out!”

Earthmover? Of course. Hero Analysis book 14 had information on heroes with elemental quirks, so of course he studied Earthmover. Real name Tsuchikawa Kiyame, and as Present Mic mentioned was Pixie-bob’s cousin.

Earthmover was more of an underground hero, who scoured the mountains looking for villain hideouts. So he has to face down these golems then? That’s fine. He can handle that. One of the only things they allowed from his hero costume were his boots. Which were reinforced, and made with high-strength materials. They were designed to reduce the shock to his knees and ankles, alongside the rest of his costume. But he didn’t have the rest of his costume, so he had to still be careful. The first golem was two-and-a-half meters tall, and vaguely humanoid. Four arms, no neck and it’s head set back into the torso, a featureless plane without nose, eyes, mouth or ears making it’s “face”. It’s legs were digitigrade, and it ran at him with this loping, almost unnatural gait, a three meter tail whipping around, shifting from left to right as this creature ran forward at him. It reached out it’s arms, and the hands morphed and twisted to form makeshift swords and axes, made out of more stone and rock than the primarily dirt body of the rest of the golem.

So Earthmaker is even making these golems replicate quirks? Well this is certainly going to be more interesting than he intended. Since his hands were unprotected but his feet were not, he ran forth, getting in close. This golem was in his way, it was moving fast enough that he couldn’t get around it fast enough, and other golems were already forming from the ground to engage the other front-runners.

He dodged the swords from two of the arms and landed four quick kicks on each of the earth/rock golems’ arms. There was a weird crunching noise, and the golem took steps back, it’s arms swinging by its sides. Ok that looked a little bit unsettling, like it’s actually hurt. But the golem was still able to use it’s “quirk”, and sent swords  _ down _ it’s arm instead of up, shards of stone twisting into the ruined limbs (And at this moment Izuku was incredibly thankful that it was a golem made of stone and dirt and rocks, rather than being made of flesh and blood and bone, because if that was the case, this would be  _ far _ more terrifying and certainly not Sports-Festival-Friendly), making them stiffened, and able to move once again.

This, in particular, is why someone who can’t feel pain is  _ terrifying _ .

Still, the golem seemed to be unfocused, so he grabbed the head of the golem and slammed it into the ground. The golem was soon absorbed into the ground, which allowed him to run forward in the no-jump zone. Of course this wasn’t the end, and there was another golem that raised in front of him just as he was about to leave. Of course this was the case, he felt like Earthmover loved this sort of thing. This second golem was more human-looking then the first, but that made it all the more terrifying. The androgenous, hairless, without eyes or ears or a mouth or nose, human rushed forward at him, a similarly unnatural gait like the first golem, but it was all the more creepy seeing this human-looking earth being lurching forward at him.

Because of the… golem’s unnatural gait, it was slower than him when he was running, especially with the power of One for All, he was able to evade the creepy humanoid. He had seen so many things in his time as either Seishin, Kira, or any of the other names or code names he wrapped around himself like a cloak of shadows, and this still made him feel a little unsettled.

Well at least he was out of the no-jump zone now, meaning he could move freely at this point. He had to give it to Earthmover for experimenting with such unusual creations. Definitely creepy. There’s about twenty-two percent of the race left, so there’s most likely one more event left in this obstacle course and race combination. Hopefully it’s not anything  _ completely _ outrageous.

He comes to a simple bulge in the racetrack, with what looked like a bunch of things have been buried, in what looked like a completely random pattern. He heard noises of explosions and ice behind him, so Bakugo and Todoroki were following close by.

“It’s the minefield! A treacherous path awaits our eager contestants! Now these mines aren’t the ones buried underground in China or Peru everyone, they’re not made to be lethal! Although you might get quite the shock and might need a change of underwear after going through the area!” Present Mic yelled out.

So the buried things in the ground are landmines. Alright Izuku, you need to make your way through a minefield. And even in something that appears completely random, there’s a pattern of limited predictability. Also, the reality of making something  _ this _ repetitive there’s going to be patterns. It’s one of four events in the first stage of the Sports Festival. Whoever made this was going to get lazy, most likely. Surely the  _ start _ of the minefield is going to be pretty random, most likely, and maybe the end, but the middle is likely to be sloppy.

And the safe zones were pretty large, so progressing in the minefield was pretty easy.

That was until he heard explosions from beside him, and saw Bakugo flying past, pink and orange explosions following in his wake.

“Stupid Deku, I’ll show you who’s really on top, mysterious fukcing quirk or no!” Bakugo yelled out as he got passed. At the final event, really? This is what happens to him?

“And Flashpoint is passed by Dauntless! A Last-Minute plot twist, this is why you all watch the Sports Festival!”

Not helping, Present Mic. But wait, here’s the point he was looking for. The landmines were more scattered at this point, and in a loose pattern. Perfect! Exactly as he had predicted. This was his chance to catch up!

He launched himself forward, taking a running leap forward. In his experience, jumping was faster than running, although that didn’t really make sense at first. It had to do with the super strength from One for All. Whatever it was, he made progress towards the exit. He just cleared the landmine area, when he felt cold air. A warning, before the inevitable ice attack. He dodged to the side, before a miniature glacier scored it’s way past right where he had been standing. A second ice… something slammed into Bakugo’s back, making him collapse to the ground.

He’s so close to the end, he just needs to get Bakugo to fight Todoroki.

Although it looks like he didn’t need to do much of that, as the explosions and ice from behind him increased in intensity. So he managed to finish the obstacle course, running out into the main stadium in first place.

“A miraculous finish from our very own hero Dauntless! After taking the lead for most of the race, his position was stolen for a brief while, but he managed to complete the obstacle course first! Let’s see how everyone else finishes!”

Bakugo ended up in third (ha), just behind Todoroki, and everyone else slowly started to file in.

Now, what’s the second event going to be? Usually it’s a team event, but who knows?

It took about half an hour for forty-two people to finish the event. Everyone from class 1-A and 1-B, a support course student, and two general studies students made it to the third round.

Midnight strode up to the stage, and spun the wheel.

“Our second task will be… Cavalry battle!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Emergence


	37. Emergence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginnings of Round 2!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Enjoy this latest chapter everyone!

Hawks hates these twice-monthly meetings with the Hero Commission. All of these conference rooms with fancy wooden tables and people in smartly-dressed suits breathing down his neck about every sort of action he took as a hero over the past two weeks. Some of the people in the Hero Commission are pretty nice, like Mrs. Kayumi or Mr. Diayato, at least privately. Most of the people on the commission are sheep for the commission chair, Nikiyo Masako, and her chief advisor, Haruto Kirisuka. More than one time he’d been tempted to send their names and faces to one of the larger Kira forums, perhaps  _ blacklightofkira.net _ , currently the largest Kira forum that hasn’t been shut down yet. The news made a big deal of the fact that whoever Kira actually is, they were active on some of the larger sites. Probably not posting, but lurking and writing down targets for future use.

Still, he resisted, because that’s not what a hero does. He’ll just grin and bear it until he can pry his way out of the commission’s claws. Relying on a villain to solve his problems wasn’t the way to do things at all. He was wearing his hero costume, also known as the fanciest thing he owned, and what he spent the most of the time wearing. The commission officers didn’t seem to care. Or maybe they did and they talked about his unprofessionalism behind his back, but hey, it’s hard to find suits made for people with wings (in terms of mutation quirks, wings are pretty rare, fully functional wings even less so) and he doesn’t like how they feel anyways.

“Come in, Hawks.” The cold female voice of Nikiyo Masako spoke from the other side of the door. He pushed open the door (it was a different one each time, the hero commission offices was a lot larger than many people think, especially the underground, where he currently was) and walked inside.

It was a large stone-walled room, with a raised platform on the opposite side where the dozen or so officers were sitting in a slight crescent. This setup looked less like an office meeting and more like a criminal trial. It made him slightly nervous, especially because of the amount of power these people held over his life.

“Welcome, Hawks.” Nikiyo Masako, dressed as always in her formal suit, some papers in front of her, spoke at first. “I’d like you to give a report on the past two weeks of your hero work. Please summarize your experiences quickly.”

At least this part of the meeting was normal, it made him feel a bit better in his current state.

“I arrested 17 villains and saved 124 civilains over the past two weeks. My largest take down was assisting in Yoroi Musha’s takedown of the Akitio villain organization following Kira murdering their leader.” He secretly liked seeing the commission officers tense whenever Kira’s name was mentioned, which was why he tried to slip the villain’s name in his reports as much as possible.

“Also, I did a joint interview with Miruko six days ago on new rising heroes, I think my popularity is still going well. If the numbers are correct, I’ll be the number 2 hero in a decade.” He said. A scary thought, he didn’t want to be any higher then he was right now. Hell, if he had his way, he would probably not be in the top ten. He continued on, listing other things he did, and then concluded with. “I have nothing further to report.”

“Very well Hawks. Concerning the upcoming sports festival, and upcoming internships, you will be allowed two interns from UA.” Nikiyo said after he had finished. “Of course, this is not required of you.”

Which was code for “I highly recommend you get two interns to improve your image and there will be consequences for not getting at least one but I can’t legally say that because you're legally a hero and legally not under our direct control.”

“I understand.” He replied. “Is there anything else you would like to mention?”

“Actually, there is one more thing.” Nikiyo replied. “I want your patrols to include Hosu. The Hero Killer Stain is in that area as of right now and is going to stay there for quite some time, as determined by T’s analysis. T also says that arresting Stain and removing the majority of his global influence will force Kira to make larger and bolder moves to keep up the pace of ideological change.”

“I understand. I’ll alter my patrol to include the Hosu area post-haste.” He replied. It made sense, in a way. Especially because there’s a copycat killer that decided that Kira only killing one or two people in a day was not the way to go. It was the ninth straight day of the second kira operating. 4104 criminals, many who only committed minor crimes. “Is that all?” He asked.

“Yes. You are free to go. We have other matters to discuss.”

He left as soon as he was free to go. He would have to adjust his patrol schedule so he could head to Hosu as soon as possible. As much as he didn’t trust T, as someone he didn’t know that well, the mysterious detective’s logic was sound. Stain was one half of the diad that was shaking the world and inspiring copycat killers all around Japan and the wider world (Although Japan is the nexus of this problem, over the past three months, he’s arrested almost a dozen copycat killers, all but one were ordinary civilians). However, people seemed more attracted to Stain, who actually physically goes out and kills people, while Kira…

Well nobody even actually knows how Kira kills people. He’s been able to access some of the reports on the people the original Kira killed, and there wasn’t a determined quirk that caused it. Which was sort of terrifying.

Still, the logic from T was sound, and forcing Kira to become more public would make it far easier for T to catch Kira.

He had to wait until he exited the commission office building and took off in flight before calling his agency, as service in the building was spotty at best.

“Hey Akari, I need you to adjust my patrol schedule, I’m heading to Hosu to catch Stain by request of the Hero Commission.” He was forced to say it was “by request” because officially heroes didn’t take orders from the commission.

_ “Don’t worry about it Hawks.”  _ Akari responded immediately.  _ “I already suspected that you would go to Hosu within the month, so I already started work on an altered schedule for you. I should have it ready by the time you’re accepting interns.” _

“Thank you Akari, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you helping me out.” He commented, and it was true. He couldn’t do most, if not all, of the work that Akari helped him out with.

_ “Suffer probably.” _ Akari joked.  _ “But seriously, you should be all good. I wish you well in catching the Hero Killer, he’s a tough cookie to take down.” _

There had been a meeting of many of the top ten heroes where they discussed good matchups against what they know of the Hero Killer’s combat style. His name was mentioned as one of the ones who would have a good matchup against Stain, primarily because of his flight ability and mainly fighting at longer range compared to the Hero Killer’s close-range ambush-style tactics. But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be careful and cautious in hunting down the Hero Killer. Mechanicus MK6 proved that.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence Akari, I’ll be back at the agency soon.”

_ “Alright Hawks, but you do know not to fly the entire way back, right?” _

“Yes, yes of course. I’ll be careful.”

Akari had become quite a bit of his impulse control over the past three years since he hired the man to manage his agency. Of course that wasn’t the only phone call he got, because as soon as he landed, his phone started ringing again. He checked the Caller ID. It was Kayumi Hisakome, one of the two nicer people on the Hero Commission.

“What is it Kayumi? Isn’t calling me dangerous?” Technically she wasn’t his official handler, so she shouldn’t really be calling him for any reason.

_ “Not really. I have security measures in place and to be honest, the other people on the council, even the other person on your court, aren’t really that smart.” _ She paused, shuffling papers around. _ “Anyway, I overheard that Endeavor was also heading out to Hosu for the same reason you are, catching the Hero Killer.” _

A chance to work with his favorite hero? Of course he appreciated the opportunity. “Thanks for telling me, Kayumi. I think the Hero Killer is going to go  _ down _ in Hosu.”

_ “Don’t get cocky, Hawks.”  _ Kayumi admonished.  _ “Mechanicus MK6 was a rising star in the hero field, and he thought the very same thing. And T told me there was a 2% chance that Kira would kill the person that captured Stain.” _

“I thought it would be less than that. It seems really out of character. At least for the first Kira.”

_ “You know there’s 2 Kiras?”  _ Kayumi asked, shocked.

“I was in a monthly security briefing for the top 10 heroes about Kira the other day, and that’s where I was informed about the second Kira. To be honest, I suspected it on the first 456. Seemed so much out of character because before it was only one to three a day, save for the very beginning.”

_ “Have a great day, Hawks.” _

* * *

_ “What are we going to do about the Sports Festival, T?”  _ The voice of one of the civilian detectives on the case asked.  _ “Sure we have increased security for the Sports Festival, but Kira’s proven that he can get around security measures. Are we sure that the security measures that have been put in place are sufficient?” _

“There are no security measures that are guaranteed to work all of the time, Detective Adachi.” He replied. “But considering the extremely limited knowledge of Kira we currently have, it’s the best we can do. We have to wait until Stain is arrested, because then Kira will be forced to make bolder moves to keep up the ideological force that’s currency spreading around the world.”

Kira was one of the strongest villains he’s ever faced, potentially even stronger then All for One, and that’s primarily because of how personally strong the villain is, as well as multitudes of people picking up the cause. There’s even a copycat killer who achieved the same power as Kira somehow.

The more this case goes on, the harder it gets. But that’s not a problem for him, as this is the most challenging case he’s worked on, and this’ll prove that no villain can stand in his way. His opponent, a supervillain who can kill anyone in the world with some method that’s not a quirk that’s untraceable.

_ “Are you sure arresting Stain is the correct choice?”  _ A historian that was temporarily brought on as an expert advisor spoke up.  _ “Past history has shown that revolutionary figures only gain popularity when imprisoned.” _

“You’re correct, Professor Imihara. However, I don’t think that’ll be the case when it comes to Stain. Many of the examples of revolutionary figures gaining popularity are the nonviolent kind, showing how the government disrespects those who protest without violence. People like Stain tend to dramatically decrease in popularity when imprisoned. To aid in our cause, I have people in the media which will spin this in the best light possible.”

_ “That’s all well and good, T, but as genius of a detective you are, you can’t control what the populace of Japan and the wider world believe.”  _ The historian replied.  _ “Frankly, I think the lion’s share of the blame for this entire incident can be levied at Mechanicus MK6, although I do not wish to speak ill of the dead.” _

_ “Believe me, Professor Imihara, Yoshito is very regretful of what he’s done. He thought he could nip this in the bud before it started.” _

_ “Are you sure about this, Kageyama? I know you’re able to sense spirits, but I don’t think Yoshito would want to communicate when he's dead.” _

_ “He’s still a hero, dear, and he’s still going to help us no matter what.” _

_ “I think we’re going on a tangent here.”  _ The stern voice of Midoriya Inko came through, silencing everyone.  _ “T, would you give us a percentage chance for the odds of you succeeding in limiting the influence of Stain?” _

Ah, thank you Midoriya Inko. Bringing the conversation back to basics and giving him something to work with at the same time, no wonder her son is so smart he probably gets it from her.

He had already calculated the numbers beforehand, so it was pretty simple.

“There’s a 99.67% chance that the influence of Stain will decrease somewhat, a 87.37% chance that his influence will decrease by around half, and a 70.33% chance it will decrease by more than half.”

_ “Thank you, T. I think we should trust T in this, he’s been right so far.”  _ Midoriya concluded.  _ “Although, I think we should be focusing on catching what T refers to as the second Kira, who seems to be more indiscriminate with his killings.” _

“Yes I agree. I don’t think the two Kira’s have any contact with each other, I don’t think the original Kira would allow for this second Kira to kill as indiscriminately as he does. And I think that the two Kiras will try to make contact, and that’s when we will strike.”

_ “You don’t think the first Kira will try to avoid the second Kira?”  _ Death Arms spoke.

“I don’t think so. Kira will try to contact S-Kira, what I’m calling the second Kira, because S-Kira is ruining Kira’s image. We may have figured out that someone else gained the power of Kira, but the general public won’t see it. As much as I hate to do this, we have limited moves.”

_ “I understand T.”  _ Death Arms replied.  _ “Anything else we should do for now?” _

“Unfortunately no. We’ll be able to do more once Kira starts making moves. Until our next meeting everyone.”

He closed the connection. It was inevitable that he would catch this latest villain, as he had caught all the other so-called “Uncatchable” villains.

* * *

Cavalry battle? Is he going to have to ride a  _ horse _ ? He’s never ridden a horse before, but who knows? He’ll adapt. Probably. Horses aren’t  _ that _ difficult to control.

But thankfully Midnight continued on with her explanation, and showed that the horses were actually other people. Ok, that’s good. There wasn’t a big chance that UA would have horses, but UA could always pull something crazy.

“You’ll create teams of up to four people, and your points will be added up together.” Midnight announced, showing a diagram of Present Mic, herself, and Thirteen carrying all Might. An impressive feat, because he knew that All Might’s muscle form was  _ heavy _ . “And the top four teams will advance to the third round. Now, how are points determined?”

“The person in last place will get 25 points, and the point value will increase 25 points each place higher you are. As for teams, the team’s points are totalled up and put on a bandana worn on the head. Additional bandanas are worn around the neck.” Midnight announced, with a swish of her whip. Ok, so according to those rules, he would have 1050 points. Quite a lot to be sure, but not a game-changer. He’ll just build a team from some of the other top-tiers, and then just hoard points. Maybe steal a spare bandana or two, just to be sure in his position.

“However, the exception to this is the person in first place.” Also known as himself. “Their point total is.... Ten Million Points!”

He didn’t see it entirely, but he  _ felt _ everyone staring at him. Ten million points was a guarantee for anyone who wanted an opportunity to get a very easy first place, all they had to do was steal his bandana and keep it and they would win. Nobody would want to be on his team, because he’d be a target for every single other team. Damn damn damn this is bad. All of his plans are ruined now. 

Breathe Izuku. In and out, in and out. It was inevitable his plans would fail. No plan was 100% foolproof, no matter how simple it is. He can adapt. Surely there are people who’d want to be on his team.

He tried to approach several people, but none of the people he asked wanted to be on his team. He even asked Iida, who surprisingly refused.

“I’m sorry Midoriya, but Todoroki’s not the only one who wants to challenge you. I need to prove myself as well. So I will have to refuse.”

That seemed out-of-character for Iida, but the Sports Festival brought out parts of people kept hidden, like Uraraka’s determination.

“What are you going to do Izuku?” Ryuk asked from beside him, floating in midair beside him. “You need a team to go on to the next round, but it looks like Midnight painted a big target on your back.”

He shot a short glare at Ryuk. “Your opinions are not appreciated.” He whispered.

“I’ll be on your team!” A familiar girl’s voice called out.

He looked up to see Uraraka standing there, looking as cheerful as ever. She has a gravity negation quirk, right? He could use a teammate like her.

“Sure, why not.” He said, faking a slight nervousness. “It’s not like I’ve got any other options.”

“TEN MILLION!!” Another girl’s voice, one he didn’t recognize came from behind him. He turned around to see the support course student that made it through, looking at him with a gaze he couldn’t really describe.

“Because you have ten million points, all the cameras are going to be focused on your team, and that means more chances to show off my babies!”

Izuku paled for a moment, but she then gestured to her inventions.

“For support course students, the Sports Festival is a chance to show off our inventions to the wider world! This is going to be my debut!”

“Alright.” He replied. “What’s your name by the way?”

“Hatsume Mei!” She replied. “Now let’s get going, Ten Million!”

He wanted to speak up in his defense, but he already knew she wasn’t going to budge, and it’s far from a hill worth dying on. 

“All I need is one more teammate.” He said. “Who will it be…”

He had ended up going with Tokoyami. Not exactly the person he was intending to be on his team, but Tokoyami was a pretty powerful all-around fighter thanks to Dark Shadow. He had ended up letting Tokoyami be the rider, and he joined Uraraka and Hatsume as the “horses”. Six minutes to plan now that he’s got a team together.

“Alright, Hatsume, do you have anything for us?” He asked. In terms of resources, she has the most diverse range of items, her support equipment. “Propulsion equipment, perhaps?”

“Of course!” Hatsume said with a grin, and pulled off something from her back. “This is a jetpack, and I also have some hoverboots. Surely that should be good?”

“Perfect.”

“Ten!”   
He took a quick glance at the headband on Tokoyami’s head. Ten million two thousand fifty. Everything except the ten million points doesn’t really matter, a total of less than one percent change in the total score on the headband. Every single team will be gunning for their headband, because the Ten Million points are an easy win.

“Seven!”

That’s fine, he’s used to being alone, and everyone trying to take him down. And planning is his strong suit. So what was his plan?

“Five!”

Simple, he looked at the strengths and quirks of everyone else on his team. Uraraka could make things weightless, Tokoyami had Dark Shadow, and Hatsume’s quirk wasn’t that impressive, but she had support equipment.

“Three!”

And he had One for All. A team of powerful quirks.

“Two.”

Well then, he’ll just try the best he can.

“One.”

Ryuk, thankfully, was quiet.

“Zero.”

Let the games begin.

As predicted, everyone charged forward in his direction. “Uraraka, now!”

He felt a tap on his back, and soon had that weird feeling of weightlessness. “Alright. Step two, engage!”

He crouched down and jumped off with 7% of One for All at the same time Tokoyami pushed off of the ground with Dark Shadow and Hatsume activated the jetpack and hoverboots, pushing them all into the air.

“And team Dauntless flies into the sky, evading everyone on the ground!” The voice of Present Mic yelled out ecstatically. Maybe teams are determined by who scored highest? Irrelevant. “What else will happen, the competition’s only been going on for seconds!”

He had to stop himself from laughing at all of the teams that were just looking up at them bemused. “Alright, let’s scout out a safe landing spot. Hatsume, if you could?”

He knew her quirk, Zoom, could be used as a telescope and a microscope, sort of. He didn’t have enough time to ask for specifics, because she launched into descriptions of her support equipment before he could ask. But he’s glad she did, as she spotted a safe landing spot.

“Found one!” She called out.

“Keep that spot in mind. I want to spend as long as possible in the air, because we’re far less likely to be targeted in the air. Tokoyami, have Dark Shadow cover our weak points, I’ll look out in front to look at our competition.”

They ended up being able to stay in the air for only a couple more minutes, before needing to go to the ground. It was pretty easy to avoid the other teams, given the fact that despite how cobbled-together his team was, they had a really good specialty for mobility. Zero Gravity reduced weight, which decreases the amount of force necessary to move them at the same velocity. Hatsume didn’t directly aid in mobility, but her support equipment had mobility aspects to it. His own quirk made him faster, of course, and then Dark Shadow could aid in mobility.

Evading other teams was a piece of cake.

That was until Todoroki decided to make good on his “challenge”, creating a mini-arena out of ice, pinning his team inside a smaller area. A much smaller area. With a quick glance at the area in bounds, Todoroki pinned them in about a sixth of the total arena. A smaller area means their mobility advantage is lessened. A mobility advantage they may not even have because of how Todoroki chose his team.

Unlike what he had to deal with, taking what people wanted to be on his team, Todoroki had the options of choice, most likely picking and choosing his team members. He’d seen people crowding around Bakugo asking to be on his team, so it was probably the same way for Todoroki.

“So I guess you’re making good on your challenge?” He asked Todoroki, who was the rider for his team of Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, and Iida (oh so  _ that’s _ who Iida ended up teaming up with).

“Of course. I will be getting those ten million points Midoriya.”

It’s halfway through the second round, he’s trapped in a small area, and Todoroki took a lot of other teams’ headbands as well as keeping his own.

He’s outmatched, hemmed in, and with too much time left. He knows how to deal with these types of scenarios. Sure he could break through the ice wall, it’s not too thick and combining Dark Shadow and himself, breaking through shouldn’t take more than a second. But Todoroki challenged him, and like hell he’s going to give up anytime soon.

“Alright, team, here’s what we’re going to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Anticipation


	38. Amplification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He almost used the Death Note, but he stayed his hand. It's not what Todoroki needs at this point in time.

Todoroki can produce a lot of ice. There’s a limit, possibly, but the limit is so far away that at this point it’s far enough away that it’s not part of his plans. But there is something about Todoroki’s ice he can exploit.

Todoroki can only produce ice from his right side, which means that…

“We can maneuver ourselves to stay out of the range of his ice side. He can’t shoot his ice without getting his teammates instead. Also, Kaminari is on that side. That way we will only have to face down Yaoyorozu and Iida.” And he’ll be on the defensive, granting him an advantage. 

“Why not just break through the ice?” He heard Uraraka ask.

“We need an opening, Uraraka. It will take us too long to break through the ice. We need a bigger opening.”

Todoroki, of course, sent ice his way, but he shifted his team into position so the ice didn’t reach them. They repeated this pattern several more times, neither of them getting the advantage.

_ “Team Dauntless was surrounded in ice by team Ice Shot, and their defeat was assured! Or that’s what I would’ve said six minutes ago! Yet it’s one minute left and team Dauntless still had their headband! It’s surprising!” _ Present Mic announced.

Alright. One minute left. All he has to do now is break the ice barrier, and he’ll be out. After some careful movements, he managed to get himself into a position where he could break the ice wall. But the disadvantage was that he was facing away from team Todoroki, even if it was only for a second, maybe two at most. He had Full Cowl at 13% right now, and the ice wall was relatively thin, as the thickness of the ice wall didn’t seem to be concerned in Todoroki’s mind. A quick series of 13% punches of his followed up by attacks from Dark Shadow created a large hole.

But he seemed to have underestimated Todoroki’s team, because a split-second later, he saw that Todoroki’s team was on the other side of them, and Todoroki was holding a headband.

“I’m sorry I hid this ability from you, Midoriya.” Iida said. “My Recipro burst ability stalls the engines in my legs, but I can use it to gain incredible speed for a short amount of time. Thank you for giving me the opportunity for advancement, Midoriya.”

There’s no way he’s going to not advance to the third round. “Alright, team, now we’re going to go on the offensive. We have 45 seconds to claim as many headbands as possible.” Including Todoroki’s original headband, there’s a total of five headbands in Todoroki’s possession. Tokoyami had apparently grabbed a headband with around 500 points on it. When Todoroki grabbed this headband, he had no clue. 

“Iida said the engines in his legs were stalled, meaning his team can’t move, meaning this is a perfect scenario for us to reclaim our headband. Sure they can rotate, and move with Iida’s normal speed, but we still have the speed advantage. Uraraka, reduce everyone’s gravity except my own. Hatsume, figure out how to get the three of you to fit on my back somehow. Tokoyami, get Dark Shadow ready to steal headbands. Got it?”

“Of course, Mido-kun.”

“Let’s show off, ten million!”

“We march into shadows.”

That was probably a “yes” from Tokoyami. 35 seconds left, this is his last chance to retrieve the points he needs to go on to the third round. He ran forward at team Todoroki, Full Cowl raging at full strength like he wasn’t unencumbered with the weight of three people. (He could probably pull this off even if Uraraka didn’t negate the gravity of everyone on his back, it would probably just be more awkward.) He ran circles around Todoroki’s group, until he blocked Yaoyorozu’s staff attack with one hand, yanking the staff out of it’s former wielder’s hand, and then used the staff to deflect the shield Yaoyorozu created. He reached with his free hand towards Todoroki’s headband, on the top of his head. He couldn’t see the numbers on the headbands, so it was likely Todoroki had swapped them around. The only way for him to be guaranteed enough points was to grab the one headband he knew the numbers of. Todoroki’s. He reached out, his hand inches from the headband…

Fire burst out, a sudden yellow-orange flare right in front of his hand. But the funny thing about sticking your hand in fire, is that if you pull it out really quickly, you won’t get burnt. Adding on the durability bonus from One for All, and that means he was able to get Todoroki’s headband. Todoroki can have the ten million points, all he needs to do was to pass to the next round.

_ “Time’s up!” _ The voice of Present Mic announced. 

“Do you think we got enough points, everyone?” He asked, as his team restored their gravity and landed on the ground.

“Im sure we did, Midoriya. We should be able to pass to the next round easily.” Tokoyami replied. “The shadows were on our side.”

“What makes you say that, Tokoyami? I’m still not sure if we got enough points.”

Dark shadow appeared at that point, holding three headbands, one in each “hand” and the third in his “beak”. “I didn’t manage to snag the Ten Million, but I suppose the rest of the points Todoroki accumulated would be enough.”

“That’s amazing, Tokoyami! We will definitely go to the next round!”

Turns out that, because of Tokoyami’s actions, they had gotten enough points to pass to the third round. Ojiro and someone from class 1-B dropped out. Apparently they didn’t remember the entire competition. What sort of quirk did that? Whatever quirk did that most likely wasn’t from Class 1-A. Maybe Class 1-B? It’s possible. A quirk that alters memories is an exceptionally powerful quirk. He should try to find the person who’s quirk this is. A potential ally, perhaps? He’d have to step carefully, and take his time. He already had too many plans going on, but hey, what’s one more? He can handle it. Maybe.

The third round was usually some sort of tournament-style match, it could be anything. Last year, there was a “fencing match” with foam swords. The year before, they had this person that could drastically multiply the force of gravity in an area, something like seven or eight times, and then there were duels like that. Every year it was something different.

“And for our next, and final, round, a tournament fight! No special tricks, no gimmicks, just a straight up fight! Recovery girl will be on scene, so feel free to get  _ nasty _ with each other.” He looked over at Bakugo while Midnight was speaking. He did not like that grin.

“However, don’t go overboard. You are heroes after all. Now, as for the matches, here they are.” Midnight pressed a button, and a tournament bracket appeared. He looked for where his name was, and who he was matched up against. His first matchup was Shinso. He didn’t recognize who that was, probably someone that never made an impression. If he wins (who knows what kind of quirk that Shinso possesses), he’s most likely going to end up fighting Todoroki in the semifinals.

Could he face Todoroki? It depends. It could go either way. He can’t really shatter a lot of the ice without breaking something, but he’s fast enough to dodge ice blasts. Hopefully.

There was an hour break before the third round, enough for him to grab a quick bite to eat, and some time to think of his next moves. Hosu’s swarming with heroes, more then double the normal. And it’s not just small-time heroes. From what he heard, both Endeavor and Hawks were spotted in Hosu. Stain’s going to be arrested soon, it’s inevitable at this point.

So what is his next move? Well he needs to find the second Kira (he hates the term, whoever has the Death Note currently is a mass-murdering madman. Slightly over eight thousand deaths so far, many of them minor criminals that don’t deserve to die) as soon as possible. All the killings happen between 6:46 and 7:46, like clockwork. Accounting for the forty second rule in the Note, the times range from 6:45 to 7:45 most likely. Same hour every day. It’s almost scary, like there’s a robot with the Note, methodical actions. That sparked a connection in his mind. If this man is methodical in using the Note, then they could be methodical in their daily, weekly, and monthly lives. Add that to the list of things he knows about the False Kira. 

So what does he know about this person with the Note? They’re Japanese, as a little over two-thirds of the murders were in Japan. They have a very black-and-white sense of justice, beyond even what someone would consider a “strong” sense of justice. And then this final point, very methodical. He can use this. It’ll take a little bit more time before-

“Midoriya.” A low voice spoke. “I need to talk to you.”

He turned around to see Todoroki standing there. “What is it, Todoroki?”

“Could you follow me? I have something to tell you, and I’d like to do it privately.”

“Alright. Sure.” He replied, following Todoroki through the stadium to somewhere that’s really out of the way. What did Todoroki want to tell him? It had to be something important, for sure. “What is it, Todoroki?” He repeated.

“Are you All Might’s secret love child?” Todoroki asked, like that was a normal question to ask. 

How does he respond to that? He  _ knows _ All Might is not his father (although All Might would most certainly be a better father then his own), but how did Todoroki get to that conclusion? Well the only thing to do was to ask.

“How did you make that assumption?” He asked.

“I felt the power of your quirk up close, for the first time. It’s similar to All Might’s power, and you both have the same determined will.”

“Todoroki, strength enhancement quirks are some of the most common quirks out there. We even have another person with a strength enhancement quirk in our class. And we all have the same determined will, because we all are are going to be heroes.”

Todoroki fell silent after his explaination. It looked like the other teen wanted to say something else, so he waited. It took a couple of seconds, but Todoroki spoke up again.

“I broke an oath I made to myself.” Todoroki said, lifting his left hand. “Last round, you saw it, right?”

“You made fire? What’s the deal with your fire? It’s nothing too bad.” He lifted his own left hand, the one he’s used to grab the headband. “See, there’s no burns on me. So if you’re worried about it, don’t. I’m fine.”

“No.” Todoroki shook his head. “I swore that I would never use my father’s fire.” He got a vague sense of unease in his stomach. Something wasn’t right here, a puzzle that he didn’t have the pieces for. But did he want the pieces? No, he had to face the uncomfortable truth. “I swore I would become a hero while only using my mother’s power.” Todoroki continued, seemingly not noticing what Izuku was thinking.

“Why?” He asked, simply. “Why would you limit yourself like this?”

He saw Todoroki steel his expression, and suddenly Izuku felt his stomach drop. Whatever was going to come out of Todoroki’s mouth, it wasn’t going to be anything good.

“Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?”

Oh. This is definitely  _ not good _ . “I have. They are relics from an old time, back when regulations weren’t as strict. Powerful people bought wives and husbands with strong quirks they could use to produce children with even stronger quirks. Although they were banned about eighty years ago. Why do you ask?” He hoped against hope that Todoroki was only curious about quirk marriages for some reason. But that’s probably not the case. 

“I am a product of a quirk marriage. My father, Endeavor, wanted to be number one, the strongest hero. But try as he might, he could never surpass All Might when the hero returned back to Japan. So he got a plan. He found someone willing to sell their daughter, my mother, who had a powerful ice quirk.”

The more Todoroki went on to explain everything his father did, the more he wanted to run back to his locker, whip out the scrap of the Death Note he had hidden in the case of his phone, and write down “Todoroki Enji.” as soon as he could. But something stayed his hand. Killing the hero will do nothing for Todoroki right now. What Todoroki needed was friends, people helping him out and showing him everything he missed. And there’s also the thing about how his father’s death would affect him. It’s not going to be anything good, that’s for sure. And then there’s the third reason, something that was only in the corner of his mind, hardly in concern. It was this being traced back to him being Kira. Because something like this is private, probably only known to a few, and if he killed Endeavor with the Death Note…

Well anyway, it would make him on the top of the suspect list. So for a mix of reasons, some for Todoroki’s sake and some for his own, he’ll stay his hand.

But that doesn’t mean he’s not going to do anything. He’ll do what he can to help Todoroki.

“I’ll make sure to help however I can.” He replied, as Todoroki walked away like he hadn’t just dumped a massive secret on someone.

Well he still has to get some food. Probably nothing big, just a snack to hold him over for a short while. He saw a snack stand somewhere along the way, maybe he should check it out.

His quick little trip was cut short when Endeavor walked past a corner and faced him. Something in Izuku’s gut told him the Flame Hero wanted to talk to him for some reason. Why? Did Endeavor hear his son’s confession? Would the hero demand his silence, or else? Or was it something else? The hero probably didn’t even want to talk to him, it was probably his brain just assuming that everything was about him just because he was currently the World’s Most Wanted (last time he checked). That’s something he’ll have to adress…

“Midoriya Izuku.” The flame hero said, in a surprisingly cold voice. This was a challenge play, something that T would do (although with a lot more tact and skill). Well two people can play that game.

“Todoroki Enji.” He replied, mimicking the cold tone of the hero he was speaking too. Technically, the pro hero shouldn’t know his name, but the reverse is also true, he shouldn’t know Endeavor’s real name.

“Don’t take that tone of voice with me.” The hero demanded. “Anyway, I’m here to talk about you. You’re most likely going to face off against my son in the third round. You’re going to be good training practice for my masterpiece, don’t mess this up for him. It’s his destiny to become the number one hero, and now two-bit nobody who somehow got the eye of All Might on him will ruin those plans for me.”

He’s not a person that gets angry easily, but oh boy the past ten or so minutes have been making his blood boil and red creep along the edge of his vision. To view your own children as masterpieces? Like their automatons, not fully human?

He sees why Dabi hates Endeavor now. He might even have to surpass the burnt villain on the list, he’ll have to see.

But he can’t react like he so wanted to, so he held off on what he so so wanted to yell at the flame hero. The (slightly more) diplomatic approach it is, then. 

“I’m not All Might-” He started.

“I know that.” Endeavor said, interrupting him.

“And Todoroki isn’t you!” He finished, slightly enjoying how the hero had a slightly shocked expression. “He’s his own person!” He walked off at that point. He was really,  _ really  _ tempted to write the hero’s name in the Note, but the reasons why he didn’t swirled to the front of his mind. He’ll just vent to Dabi, then. The guy always seemed to like stories about people hating Endeavor.

* * *

Dabi looked around at the warehouse he found himself in. It was dirty, wet, moldy, there were holes in the roof and in the walls, but he managed to find a room that was probably an office, and create something of a home base there. It wasn’t much, but hey, it worked.

At least he didn’t have to pay rent, an expense he doesn’t have to worry about.

He works a shitty part-time job for technically less than minimum wage in under-the-table money, but hey, it’s enough to live off of. Well not really, but he pretends like it’s the case. And it’s not like anyone would hire him anyways.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Stain had given him a smartphone that had like a dozen apps with Cyrillic text that were apparently “the best security in the world.” He never questioned how Stain got it (probably stealing the money, or maybe bounty hunting, who knows), but it’s been useful for organizing things in their little group.

He’d gotten a text from Seishin. A rarity, that’s for sure. The teen (and it was a teenager, he knew that for sure) was sort of like the cryptid of their little group, knowing things he had no business knowing, an expensive costume he most likely didn’t pay for, and even though Dabi couldn’t see Seishin’s face, the guy radiated “do not fuck with” energy.

**Cryptid Stain [12:27]:** I may need to take your place as the top hater of Endeavor.

Dabi had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. The fuck did Endeavor do to Seishin? Probably something far smaller then what  ~~ his father ~~ Endeavor did to him. Still, he can’t say too much.

**Left in the oven too long [12:33]:** I may have to fight you on that point, but the fuck did Endeavor do to you?

To his immense surprise, the three dots that indicated Seishin was typing out a response. Responding so quickly? Odd.

**Cryptid Stain [12:33]:** I did some digging, and found out some shit. I really want to post his name on one of the larger Kira discussion boards.

**Cryptid Stain [12:34]:** Something like Blacklight of Kira or Third Eye of Justice.

**Left in the oven too long [12:34]:** Save him for me, will you? I don’t want either Kira getting at him first.

It was no secret that both Kiras scoured the larger forum sites. They probably never posted anything, just lurked around the forums gathering information. A tree in a forest that nobody would notice. But there was no way he was letting Kira take Endeavor out.

**Cryptid Stain [12:35]:** Got it crusty.

**Left in the oven too long [12:35]:** Shut it brat.

He closed the chat at that point. Unlike Seishin, he’s got shit to do.

* * *

Texting Dabi out in the open was risky, but then again it wasn’t really out in the open, being in the locker room, and he was hiding this phone anyways. He just needed to tell someone, anyone. Even if it wasn’t anything specific, it was still good to tell someone. 

Anyway, he’d had quite the experience over the past half hour. He needs to get to the semifinals so he can convince Todoroki to use his fire. He had a plan to do it, he just needs to get to the semifinals.

First target, Shinso. He’d figured out that Shinso was the one student from the general studies classes that passed through the first round, and made his way into the final 16 of the third round by getting through the second round. He didn’t see Shinso during the second round, and based on what he’d heard about the entrance exam, Shinso must have a more subtle quirk. Maybe he was the one with the quirk that affected memory somehow.

There were a few fun-style games in between the second and the third round. He watched them, just so he can enjoy something fun before his upcoming fights. One of the games was some sort of object finding game. (He noticed that Kendo picked up Monoma as an “annoying person”, which based on his limited knowledge of the 1-B student, seemed pretty accurate).

He was approached by Ojiro just before his match with Shinso. Apparently Ojiro was affected by Shinso’s quirk.

“Whatever you do, don’t respond to Shinso’s questions. If you do, it will allow him to control your body, and you’ll be unable to think on your own.” Ojiro warned him.

“That’s good to know, Ojiro. Thanks for that.” He replied. A body control quirk, no wonder he didn’t pass the entrance exam with a quirk that only worked on other humans.

Still, he had a goal. He's going to beat Shinso.

_ “Introducing one of the top performers in both the first and second rounds, smashing into victory with great power, it’s Dauntless from the hero course!”  _ Present Mic announced as he walked onto the tournament stage. The crowd was cheering for him, so apparently he had gotten pretty popular during the first and second rounds.

_ “Versus, the only student from general studies to get this far, but otherwise he’s not done anything impressive. It’s Siren!” _ Present Mic announced as Shinso walked out, to much more scattered applause. 

_ “Alright, match start!” _


	39. Transmission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One for All and the Death Note have an interesting effect when combined.  
> :)

_ “Alright, match start!” _ Present Mic announced.

All he knew was that Shinso had a body control quirk that was activated when he responded to a question that Shinso asked. So all he had to do was not respond to any questions and then he’ll win.

“It must be good to have an amazing quirk.” Shinso said the moment after Present Mic finished his announcement. “Everyone probably told you that you had an amazing quirk, told you that you’d be the perfect hero.”

Shinso knew how to rile him up at least. He’d almost responded angrily. How  _ dare _ Shinso insinuate he’s had an easy life. His entire life was one constant struggle to be someone. He’s changing the world and the media calls him a villain! How much he just wants to yell this out to Shinso, make him see that he only got his quirk a couple of months ago.

But he held his tongue and ran for him. No way he’s going to lose to someone who hasn’t done any training. 

“I bet you’ve looked down on those with quirks people call villainous. Ignored them, pretended like they never existed. Maybe even joined in the bullying.” Shinso added.

As much as he wanted to yell out a response, he stayed his tongue and stopped himself from speaking. This Shinso was definitely trying to anger him.

"You know how people with flashy quirks are praised? Well it's the opposite for people with quirks people would call a curse. You don't know what it's like to suffer at all." Shinso almost spat out. 

“How dare you-” He yelled out, realizing his mistake as he slipped under Shinso’s control. It wasn’t body control exactly, nor was it exactly mind control. He didn’t have all of his perceptions, and many of his thoughts were dispersed. It was like being in a massive pool, except it’s for his mind. A mental pool for his mind, slowing his thoughts and emotions.

Damn, Shinso caught him! How was he going to get out of this? He can’t move his arms, legs, or anything.

_ “Turn around and walk out of the arena.”  _ Shinso spoke, and then his body moved without his action. It was a mix of mind and body control, but mostly body control, but his brain felt weird. How to break out of this? A shock to the brain could dislodge the influence, most likely. The only thing he could think of that he could do right now is pain. He felt One for All within him, a pool of energy that he still had control over. 100% in one finger, all he has to do is flick it, move it a small amount, enough to break his finger. He swore he wouldn’t do this again, but it was only a finger. Recovery Girl should be ok with that.

The more of One for All he pushed into his finger, the more he felt he could move it, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t work. He saw Yagi in the entrance, gesturing wildly, probably yelling something about not going over there. Well if he could actually do it, he would.

One step before the boundary, he stopped. He looked over and saw eight pairs of glowing eyes staring back at him. The eight previous holders of One for All. That’s when he felt his body jolt, and he was standing somewhere. It was a very dark place, to the point where he couldn’t see more than five feet in front of him. He saw a giant rib bone though, and the ground was covered in shadows save for the occasional bone or skull or iron bar or some other oddity.

Ryuk was also here, with him for some reason, even though the Shinigami had been in the stands before.

“Ryuk, do you know where this is?” He asked. “Because this sort of looks like a place you’d hang out.”

“At first I thought this was the Shinigami realm.” Ryuk replied. “But it’s different. There’s way more shadows then the last time I was up there. And plus humans can never enter the Shinigami realm, although I don’t know exactly how much you’re here.”

He looked down at that point, to see most of his body covered in the same shadow. What exactly was happening here? He needed to get back to the tournament.

“Well this is unexpected.” A man wreathed in translucent yellow-blue fire spoke aloud. “This has never happened before. Where exactly are we, and who are you?” The last question was directed at Ryuk. “I don’t remember you as a past holder.”

“I’m a Shinigami. My name is Ryuk.” Ryuk replied. “I have as much of a clue of where we are as you people seem to have. I’ve never seen this place before. It’s so… interesting.”

“A god of death? Why does the Ninth have a god of death close by him? Are you going to kill him?” The man wreathed in fire said.

“Eventually. But it’s part of an agreement Izuku and I signed. It’s all part of using the Death Note.”

He sent a glare at Ryuk. Although according to All Might, all of these people are dead, so…

“The Death Note? I’ve never heard of that.”

“I’m using it to eliminate villains even All Might can’t reach. It allows me to kill anyone in the world as long as I know their name and face.” He said, and the eight figures he could see wore shocked expressions.

“You’re using this notebook, Ninth?” A guy with longish white hair and two large scars that started at his forehead and going down past his mouth. “I presume at least you’re picky about the criminals you’re killing?”

That’s not the reaction he was expecting, but modern hero society is much younger then people thought, so this guy probably had more flexible morals. “Of course.” He replied. “The media may call me a villain, but the general public thinks of Kira, the name they gave to the mysterious killer of villains around the world.”

“Well, you seem to have a strong sense of justice, so you might trigger my meta ability sometime soon.” The man with the scars replied.

“What do you mean by triggering your meta ability?” He asked. “I’ve only ever seen All Might using the raw strength of One for All, not any other quirk like you seem to be mentioning.”

“All Might was able to invoke our power, but not our flames. There’s something different about you, where there’s the flame inside you, and you might invoke our powers soon.” The scarred guy replied. “Now get back and fight in the Sports Festival.”

_ “-s stopped moving! Is he free from Siren’s control?” _

The announcement from Present Mic was the first thing he heard when he was suddenly jolted back into his body. That meant that very little, if any, time has passed. And returning to his body after… whatever just happened was enough for him to release himself from Shinso’s control, without having to break anything.

This was a fluke, so he needs to be even better at sealing his lips and not responding.

“How- how did you break out of my control?” Shinso asked, looking shocked at it. “It’s never happened before.”

He simply grabbed Shinso and threw him out of the arena. He felt a little bad about it, but he’ll talk to him after the match ends. 

_ “Match ends with Siren out of bounds, Dauntless wins!”  _

He approached Shinso after the match, because he actually thinks Shinso could be in the hero course if he put more effort into it.

“Hey!” He called out when he saw Shinso.

“What do you want?” Shinso asked. “How did you break my control?” 

“That was a fluke, honestly.” He replied. “I don’t know exactly what happened either. I think it’s something to do with my quirk.”

“Of course your quirk allows you to free yourself from mine. It’s the perfect quirk for being a hero, unlike mine.”

“That’s not true, Shinso.” He said, causing Shinso to turn around in surprise. “All you need to do is have villains respond to a question you ask, and you’ve captured them with no property damage. It may not be flashy or openly heroic, but it’s effective. Maybe you can become an underground hero like Eraserhead or Black Ice.”

That seemed to get Shinso thinking at least. “Thanks Midoriya, maybe I judged you a bit too early.” Shinso said as he went to the general education areas where he would presumably watch the other matches.

“That certainly was something interesting.” Ryuk said. “That wasn’t the Shinigami realm exactly, but it did have some elements from the Shinigami realm. Like I’ve said before, it’s certainly very interesting.”

“I don’t get why you were in the vision though, with the past holders. Maybe there’s some sort of supernatural connection? Tokoyami did mention that Dark Shadow could sense spirits, so maybe it’s something like that? There’s literally nobody I could talk to about this so I’m just going to call it a fluke unless it happens again.”

“You may want to look into this supernatural stuff. It might be important in the future.” Ryuk said. “Also, it will make things more interesting in the future.”

“Is that all you care about Ryuk? Alleviating your boredom? I still have to get through the sports festival. Maybe once I catch this fake Kira I’ll hand you off to someone who’s as bored as you and wants to alleviate it. My life is plenty exciting as-is with the repeated villain attacks, Ryuk.”

“Your world is interesting enough, Izuku. And there’s so much more that you don’t know about.” The Shinigami replied, and then laughed. Of course the Shinigami knew things he didn’t, from the evidence he’s gathered the Shinigami has been alive for thousands, if not much, much longer, so the Shinigami probably knew much more than he was letting on. That’s fine, he was expecting this ever since the Death God first introduced himself. A quote from Ryuk himself was that the Death God wasn’t his ally or his enemy, just an observer. A very vocal observer, who likes to make snarky comments and spread lies all the time. He’d thought about the eye deal, but like hell he’s going to give any extra lives to Ryuk.

He went back up to the area where the rest of his class was seated. “I think Shinso could make a good hero.” He said to no one in particular. “Sure he’s a bit rude, but I think all he needs is some focus.”

“What happened to you out there?” Uraraka asked. “You were just standing there for like a dozen seconds or so.”

It would be too complicated to explain what happened, and it would reveal far too much about himself.

“I don’t know.” He said. “I’ll have to think about it, maybe my quirk is more complicated than I thought it was. I still don’t know how I escaped Shinso’s control.” Which was the truth. How the vision with the past wielders happened he had no clue, and apparently Ryuk had some place in it?

“Well, if you figure it out, maybe replicate it. It seemed to work pretty well.” Uraraka replied. 

“Yeah sure.” He said. Although he was hesitant to try that again. Who knew what would happen if he tried that again. How would he do that again? Meditation? He could try it out, especially if there’s some sort of metaphysical or supernatural thing at play. Or he could just be insane and it could be a hallucination.

But down that route lies craziness. He has to assume that those visions were real, and that they reflected the truth, and then plan accordingly. Namely, if what the scarred man was saying was true, then he’d be getting multiple quirks. Of course this guy could be lying, although that’s unlikely.

He’ll have to communicate with them later.

“Anyways, Hatsume’s the only other person not from the hero course to make it to the third round, I wonder how she’s going to fare fighting against Iida.” He said. He needed to get his mind off of whatever happened to him in that shadowy space.

_ “Introducing the st-wuaaah?”  _ Present Mic cut himself off. Izuku looked down at the tournament stage to see what was off. Iida was also wearing some equipment. This certainly was unusual.  _ “Is this allowed?”  _ Present Mic asked.

_ “It is allowed if both contestants agree with it. It’s a little-used rule, but it’s still on the books so it’s allowed.”  _ The perpetually tired voice of Aizawa rang through the stadium.

Ida had something on his back, as well as something else on his legs. Odd, but whatever.

As soon as Ida started running, it definitely did look a bit faster.  _ “Light on your feet, Ida? It’s because of my Water Cooling system, allowing your engines to funcion easier while they are being used.”  _ Hatsume announced. But poles came off from her backpack-like thing, allowing her to almost effortlessly dodge Iida.  _ “But dodging is effortless for me with my Hydraulic Attachment Bars.”  _

For five minutes she continued on, demonstrating the functionality of her equipment while dodging and evading Ida, which was no mean feat. Eventually she just walked out of bounds, ending the match with Ida technically winning.

He looked over and saw that Uraraka was barely restraining herself from laughing. “I can’t believe that Ida got schooled like that. Although why did she walk out of bounds?”

“The support course students have a different goal for the Sports Festival, to advertise their creations.” He explained. “Hatsume seemed to do a good job of doing that, and she doesn’t have anything else to advertise.”

“Oh.” Uraraka said. “That’s… different.”

The next match was Todoroki versus Sero. He could barely see it from here, but he saw that Todoroki had a look of anger. Endeavor must’ve talked to him, probably yelling about not disappointing him and using his fire or whatever. Did he make the right decision? Or was he making a mistake? No, he made the right decision.

As soon as Midnight declared “Match Start”, Sero wasted no time to hook tape on Todoroki and attempt to swing him out of the arena. A split-second later, he felt the temperature drop in the air drastically, before a  _ massive _ glacier formed out of where Todoroki’s right foot was on the ground. It covered half the stadium, stretching up into the sky, translucent spires stretching skyward.

Sero was immobilized by the attack, obviously, and even Midnight had some ice on her. Todoroki obviously had some pent-up anger that he needed to release. A figure covered entirely in black cloth emerged from a hole in the cement that Cementoss created, and held out his hands. Various colors of green stretching from almost white to almost black came from their hands, with clocks dispersed through the energy, some rotating, some static. The energy swirled over the ice, removing it as quickly as it was formed.

_ “And the massive Glacier Ice Shot created was easily reduced by Mahakala, our resident janitor!”  _ Present Mic exclaimed.  _ “Usually he’s out cleaning up combat sites, but we got him here for the craaaaazy tournaments! Everyone give him a shout for his hard work!” _

He yelled out in appreciation of this guy. He had a really cool quirk! And most of the audience seemed to agree, because there was shouting and hollering. Present Mic certainly did know how to inspire a crowd.

The next match was Aoyama versus Mina. Ever since they teamed up during the heroes vs. villains training exercise, they seemed to be rather friendly together, their dramatic personalities meshing together well. As he watched Mina, he realized how fast and light on her feet she was. Well she had mentioned that she had been taking dance classes, so it made sense that she was light on her feet and relatively quick, dodging and dancing around the laser blasts from Aoyama.

Eventually Mina got in range enough to throw some acid at Aoyama’s laser focusing belt, and then ended the fight with a surprisingly strong uppercut, knocking Aoyama to the ground.

He watched each and every fight of the first match. A girl from 1-B with a vine quirk easily defeating Kaminari, who said that his fight would be a “piece of cake”. Tokoyami taking down Yaoyorozu in well under a minute, was also surprising. He would’ve expected Yaoyorozu to win, all she had to do was create a bright light, a powerful flashlight and then Tokoyami would be defeated. But it was obvious she was under pressure from Dark Shadow, and maybe she didn’t have the time. 

The fight between Kirishima and his metal equivalent from 1-B ended up in a tie. Surprisingly, there were rules for this scenario, and the competition moved on.

To the next fight.

Uraraka vs. Bakugo.

He had tried to give her some advice, a method of defeating Bakugo with her quirk, but she refused, saying she had her own plan. He trusted her. Despite her stubbornness, he trusted her intuition and skill.

_ “Introducing, the girl who can negate gravity with a touch, but she’s as grounded as anyone else you’ll meet, it’s Uraaaaavity!”  _ Present Mic exclaimed, as enthusiastic as ever. He’d mentioned it before, but Present Mic was at home when everyone could hear his voice, having his own radio show, appearing constantly on other shows, and interviewing countless heroes. He knew exactly what to say to a crowd.

_ “And her competitor, a boy with a quirk as explosive as his temper, it’s Flashpoint!”  _ Present Mic yelled out.  _ “Now, let the match begin!” _

The moment that Midnight called out the match to start, Uraraka charged forward, but she was blasted away. She tried this again, taking off her outer shirt to function as a distraction in the smoke and dust from Bakugo’s explosions. 

Again and again she tried, and again and again she was pushed back. Sometimes she was only inches from touching him.

He’s missing something, he’s missing something  _ big _ . Uraraka would never attack over and over again, failing each time unless she has a plan. She had a plan for sure. There was a clear area where the smoke and dust cleared, he was expecting there to be rubble. Sure there was some, a few stones and pebbles, but nothing larger. Compared to the holes the rubble created, there’s a massive discontinuity. So where have all the rocks gone? Uraraka’s quirk allows her to remove gravity from an object, so once she did that, all she needed to do was toss it, and it would go full force into the air.

He looked up.

The missing rubble was there, floating in the air. So her plan was a meteor shower? Even he hadn’t thought of that. He’ll have to meet Uraraka later after the competition to congradulate her for her genius strategy. Although it sort of make sense, she’d been using her quirk her entire life, figuring out new ways to use it was second nature. 

But he couldn’t congradulate Uraraka yet. He has to face off against Iida.

He heard a hero boo from the stands, yelling something he couldn’t perceive, but other people started yelling about how Bakugo was beating up a girl. Were these people idiots? Villains wouldn’t go easy on her because she’s a girl. For Bakugo, it was a mark of respect. He saw Uraraka as an actual challenge.

_ “To that one hero that yelled out.”  _ Aizawa said.  _ “I don’t know how you ever became a hero, because of how much of an idiot you are. She’s a hero just as much as you are. Would you tell that to Miruko, or Ryukyu, or Azazael?”  _ Izuku detected some anger in Aizawa’s voice.  _ “She’s a hero in training, fully aware of how dangerous the job is. I suggest you find another profession if you’re going to act like it.” _

At that point, more and more people started to notice the rubble, but Bakugo still didn’t notice, until Uraraka called “Release.” and pushed her fingers together. All the rubble came falling down. Bakugo readied his hands and shot out the largest explosion yet, decimating the entire meteor shower in one attack.

That seemed to be all that Uraraka had in her, and she fell over.

_ “Uravity loses, Flashpoint advances on to the next round.”  _ Present Mic said after a pause. Of course he didn’t see that announcement, as he was heading to the match tournament where he would face off against Ida.

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu ended up doing a tiebreaker, an arm wrestling competition. Kirishima eked out a victory, advancing to the next round and facing off against Bakugo.

_ “One one side, a hero-in-training that’s been breezing through the competition, Dauntless!”  _ He walked into the arena to Present Mic’s announcement.

_ “And on the otherside, someone equally as fast, if not faster, zooming through the first two rounds, it’s Ingenion!” _

“Match Start!” Midnight declared.

Hesitation was a curse he couldn’t have if he wanted to succeed in any of his endeavors. Ida was fast in a straight line, sure, but it was difficult for him to turn at his highest gear settings. He may be slower then Ida was, but he was more agile and able to dodge easier, advantage him.

It quickly devolved into a contest of speed, where Ida was faster than he was, but he was able to evade.

“I told you I would challenge you, Midoriya.” Ida said. “Like everyone else, I’m here to win.”

“I expected nothing less, Ida.” He replied, facing Ida. “I’m here to win as well.”

He had a new strategy at this point, he was going to throw Ida out. He maneuvered himself into a position where he was five meters from the boundary line. Ida charged for him, as expeted, but instead of dodging, he reached out and grabbed Ida and tossed him out of the boundary line, literally throwing him over his head. 

_ “Ingenion is out of bounds, Dauntless advances to the next round.” _

Todoroki fighting Mina turned out to be just as quick, a second glacier significantly smaller than the first one. He noticed there were tiny pieces of ice on Todoroki, that melted in the sun almost immediately.

He’d have to face off against Todoroki next. Damn.

“I don’t regret being in your position dude.” Kaminari spoke up from beside him. “Facing off against Todoroki, man?”

“I have a plan.” He replied. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Alright, man.” Kaminari replied, sitting back in his chair. “It’s gonna be your funeral.”

“Nonsense.” Kirishima added, having walked in at sometime. “I think you got this Midoriya.”

“Thanks, Kirishima. I don’t know if my plan will work, but I’ll do my best!”

Tokoyami continued his march up the standings by defeating that girl from 1-B with vines for hair, Dark Shadow tore though the vines and threw her out of bounds. All in all, he managed to throw the 1-b girl out of the boundaries in a little over a minute. This was an opportunity for him to see exactly how strong his classmates were, and some of them were more powerful then he was expecting.

He didn’ get a chance to watch Kirishima and Bakugo fight, because he was in a waiting room currently. He wasn’t expecting to win, of course, but he was still feeling nervous. Even though his goal wasn’t to win, it was to make Todoroki accept his fire as his own, he couldn’t help feeling trepidation. What if he made things worse? What if Todoroki didn’t want someone butting into his personal business? Then why did Todoroki share that deeply personal information with him in between the second and third rounds? He would’ve never expected it, Todoroki keeps secrets extremely well, as much if not better than himself. All Todoroki had to do was not bring it up, and it wouldn’t be a problem.

He took a deep breath in, and another breath out. He just had to accept it.

“I know that look on your face, Izuku.” Ryuk spoke up. “You’re planning something, and it’s probably something interesting.”

“You overheard what Todoroki told me, right?”

“Of course. You’re going to write down Endeavor’s name in the Death Note, I presume?” Ryuk said, sitting down in a chair. “A risky play, but I support it.”

“No.” He said, with an air of finality.

“No?” Ryuk asked surprised. “Why not?”

“It’s not going to be beneficial to anyone. It’s been a battlefield inside my mind about what to do ever since I heard Todoroki’s story. But I’ve decided to go on and take the hard path. This is a large weight Todoroki didn’t intend to put on me. I’m going to help Todoroki, Ryuk. The right way.”

He walked out into the stadium, nerves dancing in his stomach, but determination on his features.


	40. Helpful

_ “And Uravity is knocked out after her attack, meaning that Flashpoint moves onto the next round!”  _ The noise from the old TV went into the bar.

“I don’t get why we’re watching this.” A young man covered in scars said, lounging down in a booth of questionable cleanliness. “Don’t you have an inside man? There’s better use for my time than watching TV.”

“It’s to learn their skills, strengths and weaknesses, Dabi.” Another man, covered in green scales, spoke up from the barstool he was sitting on. “Sure they’re heroes in training, but if they ever fall off the right path, we’ll be able to set them straight.”

_ “The real reason I want you to see this.”  _ The laptop in the corner switched on, and a mechanical voice broadcasted from it.  _ “Is what it represents. Violence is glorified, they fight for recommendations from pro heroes like the Gladiators of ancient Rome. _

_ “Although what Spinner said is true. Tomura, make sure to watch this. It’ll be useful in the future.” _

Another young man looked up from the handheld device he was holding. “I’m gaining experience for the next battle, then. I’ve already planned my next mission in this campaign.”

_ “Good, good, Tomura.” _

Spinner was watching this interaction with great interest. He’d met this All for One personally, the man had even offered to swap his quirk out for something more “dramatic”, in the words of the villain.

He had refused, of course. He didn’t want All for One to touch him, to go anywhere near him. There was something  _ off _ about the villain. It could be a quirk, but it could just be that All for One is  _ that _ powerful.

Would Kira choose to work with this supervillain? Probably not. But he’s not Kira, he can’t hide in some closet killing anyone in the world. He’d joined a group, taking to heart the goals and ideology of Stain and Kira, trained relentlessly, because he can’t kill with a thought.

Or however Kira killed. Even T didn’t know, he learned that from overhearing All for One talk to Shigaraki, because even the most expert among quirk analysts had found the lack of a quirk among every single death.

“Although I don’t exactly get why we need to pay attention to the NPC’s.” Shigaraki spoke. “All we need to do is take Kira’s weapon from him, and we’ll have all the tools we need to begin.”

“Following your logic, Kira’s weapon is endgame loot, and Kira is a final boss.” Dabi said, standing up. “You don’t think that Kira has defenses, people working for him? If the information your spies gathered is accurate, especially your guesses on what happened to the Numbers is true, then Kira can even control people to some degree. You think he wouldn’t take control of you as you approached him? He’s probably not even in Japan at this point if he has half a brain.”

“Distances don’t matter to me. I have Kurogiri.” Shigaraki replied, continuing tapping away at his device. “Kurogiri can move us anywhere, all we need is a location.”

_ “I think you’re giving this Kira too much credit, Dabi.” _ All for One spoke from behind his computer screen.  _ “They’re probably hiding in plain sight, a normal man or woman, boy or girl, save for whatever weapon they wield. You may have even met them at one point.” _

Now that was an interesting thought. That he had met Kira at some point. 

The screen switched off at that point. Like always, All for One switched off his screen suddenly.

“Why isn’t Stain here?” Shigaraki asked nobody in particular. “He needs to watch this as much as any of us.”

“He’s going after another fake apparently.” Dabi said, slinking down further into his booth. “I don’t know who.”

“You seem rather happy, scarface.”

“I don’t know what happened, but Seishin hates Endeavor now, which is amazing.”

“That’s all you go on about, you hating Endeavor. What, did he burn you or something?” Shigaraki demanded, stopping whatever game he was playing.

Dabi didn’t respond, instead looking up at Kurogiri. “Kurogiri, could you please open a portal to my usual spot?”

Spinner wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard a slight tremor or warble in Dabi’s voice.

Kurogiri’s eyes narrowed, but a second later a portal did open.

Seconds after Dabi left and the portal became whisps, the door burst open and Toga leaped in. “Oooh, we’re watching the sports festival? I wanna watch! There’s so much blood and injury! Maybe I’ll find a cute boy or girl I like seeing injured!”

He’d learned that she was all fucked up because of her quirk, but still, it was unsettling to hear her talk.

He needs to concentrate, to gather information on these heroes-in-training.

* * *

Present Mic was saying something. Probably just announcements introducing him and Todoroki. That’s not what he needed to pay attention to. There was only one thing he needed to pay attention to.

Midnight called for the match to start. The opening strike he needed. Todoroki immediately sent a wave of ice at him. It was slower and smaller than the first two Todoroki sent out, so it was easy enough to leap to the side to avoid. He ran forward at that point, One for All pounding through his veins at 11%, his current safe limit. 

Another wave of ice, moving past it again. It barely missed him. Faster, faster, faster. 12%, 13%, 14%, inching up the power slowly, raising the floodgates. There was enough ice now that he could jump from mini-glacier to mini-glacier, each leap cracking the ice he pushed off of. 15% now. He could feel his muscles straining, his body struggling to contain the massive power coursing through him. Not enough. More ice this time, headed directly at him. Ice on either side, towering walls of translucent frozen water. Destruction then. A kick at 15%, slamming his foot into the ice headed his way. The impact stopped the advancing ice in its tracks, cracking and breaking it into pieces, and there were even small amounts of steam and water around, the ice heated enough from the sheer force to melt and even boil.

His leg definitely wasn’t fully intact though, he felt his muscles straining from the impact, but he was closer to Todoroki now. Run forward, rush forward. Closer, closer, closer. Another chunk of ice, smaller, weaker, was thrown his way. He used his other leg, powered also at 15%. It smashed through the ice easily, and the resulting windstorm caused Todoroki to put up an ice barrier behind himself to prevent him from leaving the arena.

Another ice wave, then a second, then a third, each one kicked away. The muscles in his legs were screaming in pain, so when the fourth wave of ice came his way, he knit his hands together and slammed his hands together into the ice like he was holding a baseball bat. The ice shattered like it did before.

This time Todoroki decided to get in close, creating a ramp of ice and then running at him, his hand coasting close to the ground, covering it in ice.

“Your mobility is a great strength of yours, Midoriya. So let’s reduce that.” He just barely heard Todoroki say.

So that’s Todoroki’s game plan, then? His shoes aren’t really the best on ice, sure he wouldn’t slip immediately, but he knows Todoroki’s boots are more suited for moving on ice, plus the secondary aspects of quirks give Todoroki benefits dealing with ice.

Secondary aspects he doesn’t have, because One for All was a quirk artificially bestowed upon him, not naturally born from him. He’ll continue, however, no matter what it will take. Todoroki wanted to make the ground slippery and unsafe? Well that’s not going to stop him. He may have shattered quite a few glaciers of ice, but there’s still enough ice around for him to use as stepping stones, trying to get in closer to Todoroki. A weakness he has is that he can’t use these barriers as leaping platforms forever, because jumping off of them causes the ice to crack and break when he jumped forward. Not his problem.

He dodged an ice-encrusted fist from Todoroki, who continued the action, slamming it into the ground, creating a pillar of ice propelling him up back onto his feet, while at the same time emanating a cloud of small ice particles from his right foot, acting as a dazzling barrier in the sunlight. He punched the air, creating a wind force that dispersed the ice particles. 

He was close enough to yell out to Todoroki now, and also close enough to see that Todoroki was breathing heavily, condensation pouring out of his mouth, frost and ice appearing on his right side.

“The sports festival is all about giving your all, Todoroki! Why are you limiting yourself like this?” He yelled out. “You haven’t landed a hit on me yet, and look at yourself! You’re covered in ice and your quirk is at it’s limit! Use your fire!”

That only seemed to make Todoroki angrier. “What? Did my old man pay you off or something?” Was the only thing he heard before there was another large wave of ice directed his way. This was weak, however, and he easily slammed it apart.

“No amount of money could convince me to do something for him! I’m doing it for your sake!” He yelled out, landing a superpowered punch on Todoroki, sending him almost out of bounds, only a quickly-built ice barrier prevented him from that fate.

“I already told you I wasn’t going to use my father’s power.” Todoroki said, then sending yet another wave of ice his way, this one was pretty easy to deflect.

“IT’S NOT HIS POWER, IT’S YOUR OWN! IT’S YOUR POWER!!” He yelled out, leaping from the first glacier Todoroki sent out.

He saw Todoroki freeze in place, as if whatever he had yelled out drew out some memory in Todoroki. Then he saw it.

The fire.

Orange flames generated around first the left side of Todoroki’s face, and then along his entire left side. The ice on his right side melted away.

“You could’ve won, Midoriya.” Todoroki said, and then launched a renewed attack of ice, which Izuku just barely managed to dodge.

“Are you ready to go all out, Todoroki!?” He yelled aloud. The only response he got was Todoroki charging up a massive amount of fire. Holy shit this is actually going to happen. Fuck it, 100%. He charged up his own attack, and launched it out as Todoroki sent out an almighty blast of orange-yellow fire.

The split second before the colossal energies of their attack joined, he saw Cementoss make five cement barriers, but they barely lasted an instant against the intense fire and pure energy.

He was blasted away from the force, slamming his hands into the cement of the arena to try to get purchase anywhere. But he couldn’t ever get enough leverage, he was pushed back too fast, and ended up flying out of bounds. Technically it didn’t count unless he touched the ground, but he didn’t have any moves to maneuver in air (yet), so he slammed into the ground.

_ “Dauntless is out of bounds, Ice Shot advances to the next round, although something tells me that that hero name isn’t going to last for much longer after that fiery debut!”  _ Present Mic announced.

It doesn’t matter if he lost the match, it’s just a competition, there’s two more like it later in the year. Helping someone? Like what All Might said, interfering when you weren’t really wanted was the true mark of a hero. Stain would certainly agree with him on this, most likely.

He had lost the battle, the duel, sure, but he’s won the war.

What war? The war against stagnation, a war against a broken society. A war that would involve both heroes and villains alike. 

“I thought you said that you would never break your bones again.” Recovery girl said to him as he sat in her office, his arm healed up.

“Well this was a special scenario, Recovery girl.” He explained. “Anyway, can I go now, I want to watch the next matches, am I all set to go?”

“Of course you are, dearie, but please be careful in the future.”

“I’ll try my best.” He said. “Hey, I’ve definitely gotten better!”

He left the infirmary before she could give a surprisingly cutting remark. Recovery Girl’s snarky remarks definitely made him a bit more careful in his training.

He’d missed the other semi-final, where Tokoyami was eventually brought down by Bakugo. That made sense, because from what he had seen, Dark Shadow was weak against bright light. A bright midday sun, flames in pits surrounding the stage, and continuous exposure for quite some time, and Tokoyami still lasted several minutes against Bakugo.

Now it was time for the final match, Todoroki versus Bakugo.

“Hey Midoriya, you’re good at this analysis stuff, right?” Asui asked from sitting beside him. “Who do you think is going to win? Kero.”

Who  _ did _ he think was going to win. Todoroki would most likely primarily use his ice, only using his fire to heat himself up.

If Todoroki used his fire, then he would win. Because then Todoroki could just keep sending out ice over and over again, eventually overwhelming Bakugo.

“I think it’s going to be a toss-up.” He replied. “It could go either way, although I think Todoroki has a slight edge though.”

“I think you’re right. Kero.” She replied. “What about you, Kaminari? Who do you think is going to win?” She asked Kaminari, who just walked in.

“I think Bakugo’s got this one, so far he’s been pretty unstoppable.”

_ “And it’s time for the gripping finale!!!”  _ Present Mic announced.  _ “Flashpoint’s been exploding his way through the competition, an unstoppable explosion! But will he meet his match in the equally impressive Ice Shot, who’s used his ice, and fire on top of that, to stop even the mightiest of his opponents. Give me some killer comments, Eraserhead!” _

_ “These two are definitely powerful, so this will be a close fight for sure.” _

_ “You heard it from him, folks! Anyway, let’s get started with this craaaazy final match!!” _

Todoroki immediately started off with a glacier that was slightly smaller than the one sent out at Sero, covering Bakugo. Everyone was talking about how Bakugo was defeated already, but there were explosions coming from inside the ice and Bakugo emerged. 

The fight continued on like this, Todoroki and Bakugo slugging it out with ice and explosive energy. However, Todoroki was accumulating ice on his right side, and that seemed to make Bakugo angry.

Izuku could hear Bakugo yelling, wanting Todoroki to use his fire side. But for some reason, Todoroki wasn’t using it. It makes sense, of course. The path to recovery isn’t a straight line up. Hell he was surprised he broke through during the fight.

Todoroki ended up losing, and Bakugo didn’t seem happy about that. Yelling angrily about Todoroki “giving up.”

Despite technically being in 4th place, according to how some ranking rules worked, he got to stand on the third-place platform alongside Tokoyami.

He looked over and saw that Bakugo had been chained to the podium. What the actual hell? Why did they think that something like that was acceptable? Who approved these restraints?

For the second time today, his hands were itching to write a name in the Note. He might actually end up writing several names. He was collecting a list of criminals that were on the edge, minor leaders in organizations, or murderers or rapists released because of lack of evidence.

Or maybe he’ll find out who approved this, and then they’ll have a  _ talk. _

All Might was the one that presented the medals, leaping from the roof of the stadium to the stadium floor in a single leap.

**“Congratulations, young heroes!”** All Might announced.  **“An excellent performance from everyone here, but especially these four!”**

With a swipe of his arm, All Might brought out four metals. Two bronzish metals, a silver metal and a gold medal.

**“Young Midoriya.”** All Might whispered into his ear after presenting him with the bronze medal.  **“You should meet me after the end of the sports festival.”** All Might probably left off the part about One for All because Tokoyami was less than a meter away. Perhaps All Might sensed something within One for All. Which would be terrifying if All Might knew Ryuk existed. But that’s something Izuku has to worry about in the future.

All Might then went over to Tokoyami, putting the medal on his neck and whispering something to Tokoyami in turn. All Might did the same thing to Todoroki, whispering something in his ear as well while giving the silver medal to him. 

When it came to Bakugo, he could see immediately that Bakugo didn’t want the medal, moving his head the little bit he could. From the studies of past Sports Festivals, refusing medals were uncommon, extremely so (he could only recall three or four times, not including this one), but there were still protocols in place, despite the last time this happened being forty years ago.

None of them included binding up the contestant like a  _ villain. _

Eventually, All Might forced the medal into Bakugo’s mouth. Poor All Might, the guy probably had no idea what was going on, and defaulted to doing what he knew best. All Might wasn’t the problem, however.

That honor belonged to someone else.

* * *

He’d like to say he’d followed the Sports Festival intently, but that would be a lie.

He’d hardly devote so much time to something that unimportant, instead he went on yet another patrol. 23 incidents averted in total; 12 criminals caught, 7 pets rescued, 2 villains apprehended, 2 hostage situations averted. 12 autographs, 17 selfies, 3 flyby videos.

Still a drop in the bucket, compared to the crime rife in Fukuoka, in Japan, in the world.

The only time he got for himself to think at all was when flying to and from different locations, which sometimes made his thoughts wander to darker solutions.

For example, the S-class supervillain Kira.

Objectively, not looking at the means and only looking at the ends, Kira is doing a good to the world. But Kira’s means (especially the newer one) were objectionable at the very least.

According to some rumors he’s heard, Kira was actually a hero course student at UA, which, if it was true, would definitely be surprising.

He was currently watching the sports festival on his phone, and he’d picked up the start of the third round. Some green-haired kid versus Endeavor’s son. Should be a quick and easy match, but the green kid was  _ fast _ , which immediately got his attention. And not only fast, but strong too. Probably some sort of strength enhancement quirk. But what was that green lightning? Probably some weird side effect of his quirk.

Still, he might send an offer. That combination of speed and power is not ofte-

He almost dropped his phone when he saw Endeavor’s son alight with fire, after the green-haired teen (Present Mic called him Dauntless, right?), yelled something at him. A taunt? No, that didn’t seem to fit. He made sure to have a firm grasp on his phone, because something was telling him there was going to be something major happening.

His intuition turned out to be correct, because there was an almighty explosion. How exactly it was caused, he had no clue, he was always shit at physics, but it ended up sending the super-strength kid out of bounds with a broken arm, and Endeavor’s kid was just barely in bounds, only a hastily-built barrier and less than half a meter preventing him from being out of bounds in turn.

This Dauntless does need to learn a few things about speed, how to effectively manage being fast, and maybe some questions about his quirk.

Now for the second person…

He went back to the first round, which were usually pretty quick, weeding out the weaklings that slipped through the cracks, that sort of thing. The first match was Dauntless fighting someone with a mind control quirk, which he recognized as Dr. Shinso’s son. If his son’s quirk worked the same way as his fathers…

Dauntless escaped the control, somehow, which was strange. Maybe Dr. Shinso’s son didn’t inherit that part of Mind Palace.

He doesn’t have much time, so he watched a few more fights, until he saw someone with a bird head with a living shadow as a quirk quickly defeating a girl who created shields. It was a simple matter to find the two other battles the bird-headed teen fought in. And through the entire three fights, he saw that Tsukoyomi could definitely learn some new tricks.

Alright, that’s the two people he’ll send offers to. He tucked his phone in his pocket, and went into a quick dive. Fun time’s over, now it’s time to get back to work.

* * *

Collecting fake phone numbers from India were ridiculously easy to acquire. Anonymous collection was even easier, thanks to advances in security services. It only took him twenty minutes to get the number he needed and set it up on his burner phone that was one of his most important pieces.

He didn’t call Nezu’s personal number, mainly because he didn’t know it, but instead he called the UA principal’s office number. But before he did, he double- and triple-checked the security measures he had, including the automated voice he was going to use.

Everything was perfect. Now it’s time to call the principal.

It was surprising that the principal actually picked up. And when he did, he had a rush of nerves. What if he messed up somewhere? This could be the very end of his time as Kira, was it really worth it?

No hesitation. The answer is yes. He needs to do this.

“Good evening, Principal Nezu.” he said, in a slow, scratchy voice. Even if his robotic voice failed, then hopefully he wouldn’t be recognized. This was too important. “I would like to have a conversation.”

_ “Who are you and why are you calling me?”  _ The voice of the principal came from the other side.  _ “All calls to this number are automatically traced, so be careful.” _

Alright, Izuku, time to see if your security measures worked out.

“I’d prefer not to give my name, but like most people I was watching the Sports Festival, and I just want to know why you thought chaining up a sports festival winner was acceptable.”

The longer it took for Nezu to respond, the more nervous he got. Was the UA principal going to find him? There’s no way.

_ “We won’t be revealing our reasoning to any random person, I hope this is understandable. However, if you happen to be someone important, I could maybe reveal some details.” _

Very clever, Nezu. But he does have a card up his sleeve.

“I could always find your names and throw them on the Kira forum. In fact, I’d be surprised if Kira wasn’t already looking at the Sports Festival and thinking.”

_ “You’ll have to wait for the public statement, I’m afraid. You can’t threaten me, random person.” _

He hung up at that point, and factory deleted everything. As much as he’s been getting better at making bigger moves, it’s still difficult for him.

Ryuk found this hilarious, of course.

He had nothing more to do for the rest of the night, so he fell asleep.

And then began to dream.


	41. Limitless

In the afternoon the next day, UA released a statement about the events of the Sports Festival. Apparently his call hadn’t been the only one. The statement said something about it being “A decision among multiple people we would like to keep private.” and “We’ll make sure such an occurrence never happens again, and the people responsible will be reprimanded.”

So in essence, a non-apology. That’s fine, it’s no worse than what he was expecting. This is the reason society needs to change.

“Alright.” Aizawa said, activating the smart screen. “Usually there’s more of a spread in the rankings, but it appears that the top 2 finalists stole the stoplight.”

He looked at the numbers. Todoroki had the most offers, but Bakugo wasn’t far behind. They both had  _ thousands _ of offers. He’d gotten a respectful amount of offers himself, about a hundred. Maybe he’ll get someone from the top hundred.

“Even though Bakugo won, he got less offers?” Sero asked.

“The pros probably got all scared off.” Kaminari said. “I mean…”

“Any pro that’s scared off isn’t worth my time!” Bakugo yelled out in response.

“And I probably got most of my offers due to my father’s influence.” Todoroki said, in response to something Yaoyorozu said. 

He’d gotten 103 offers specifically, so it would be cool to see who decided to give him an offer.

“I’ll be handing out folders for the people who got offers. Anyone who didn’t get offers, there are forty hero agencies that will accept requests for internships. Make sure to write down other options if you get the chance.” Aizawa then started passing out the papers, giving him some time to think.

He looked over and saw that Ida didn’t look like his usual self. It looked like he was hiding something. As someone who is hiding some major secrets from his classmates, and from pretty much everyone in general, he can tell if someone’s doing the same. Unless it’s something someone’s been hiding since the very beginning, he doesn’t have anything to compare it to.

His thoughts were cut off by the folder handed to him by Aizawa. Oh right, he has to pick out an agency to intern at.

The first name on the list surprised him when he saw it.

Hawks.

The Number Three hero, Hawks.

_ Hawks _ had sent him an internship offer.

He didn’t think he’d impressed the Number Three hero that much, but apparently he did, and that’s most likely where he’s going. He wrote down the name of Hawks’ agency. (The Aery). Of course he’s not pretentious, so he wrote down the names of two other agencies (Although one of them wasn’t an agency, it was the independently operating hero Synth, and the other was the agency of the pro hero Lady Victorious.)

But he really did want to work with Hawks. He’d been doing some casual research on heroes, and he found a quote from the current number one American hero Ferric Emperor during a joint interview with him and All Might.  _ “Speed is critical to the work of a hero. The faster you save someone, defeat a villain, prevent a natural disaster, the more lives you save, the more property damage you avert.” _

And who else to teach him speed then the hero that’s been called “too fast” by the general media? He’s seen the interviews, he knows how much his laid-back persona he portrays and his actual workaholic nature are different.

The other two heroes he applied for were also good heroes in terms of speed and power. Not as much as Hawks of course, but they still were pretty good. 

And maybe part of this was his desire to learn more about Hawks. Despite being the Number Three hero, there wasn’t a lot of information on Hawks. He’d even browsed through some files he really shouldn’t have access to, thanks to his mother’s work. If even the number fourteen hero didn’t have access to information about Hawks, then it was a great mystery indeed.

“Who are you going to be interning with? I think I’m going to go with Gunhead.” Uraraka said, picking up a small piece of meat from her lunch.

“Gunhead?” He asked. “He’s a brawling hero, isn’t he? I thought you were going to go with a rescue hero.”

“Well my fight with Bakugo told me I need to gain some combat skill.” She replied. “I mean, I’m still going to be a rescue hero and all, but it’s good to be skilled in combat, right?”

“That makes sense.” He said. “Although I’m probably going to be more of an action-oriented hero, stopping villainy at the source.”

“Of course!” Ida spoke up. “Whether through direct fighting, or through rescuing, these heroic endeavors are all worth pursuing.”

“I forgot, I never answered Uraraka’s question.” He said. “If I can get it, I think I’m going to go with Hawks.”

He noticed that Tokoyami was looking his way. Did Tokoyami get an internship request from Hawks as well? Interesting. Well unless Hawks is getting two interns, then it’s good he put in a second and third request for agencies.

“Hawks?” Asui asked, seemingly surprised. “The number three hero? Kero.”

“Yeah.” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, it was a bit surprising, but I did get to the semifinals. Maybe I can learn how to channel Hawks’ legendary speed.”

“Who are you going to go with, Asui?” Ida asked. 

“I’m going to go with Selkie.” She replied. “He’s a pretty good ocean rescue hero. I didn’t get to do water rescue training at the USJ, so going to an internship where I can do that is my best choice. Kero.”

He’d found out that Todoroki was going to intern with Endeavor. He’d asked about it innocently, but Todoroki made a good point. Endeavor was one of the best people that could train Todoroki with his fire. It was a step in the right direction at the very least.

He still didn’t know where Ida was interning with, though. Ida managed to dodge the question, somehow. He didn’t want to call Ida out on dodging the question, though. Maybe he just wanted to keep it a secret, a surprise or something.

He still has three days to figure it out.

Today in foundational hero studies, they were watching a video made by the first Pro Hero in Japan, Akayashi Samurai.

_ “What you need to understand, heroes of the future, is that being a hero in my day is far more dangerous work. Even though I’ve been a hero for five years, there’s only six dozen heroes in Japan, and thirty times the number of vigilantes.” _

Izuku wasn’t going to listen to the video with his full attention, just absorbing the information while thinking about his next move with the Death Note. 

But when Akayashi Samurai started saying that being a hero was more dangerous in his day? Sure heroes now are more numerous and powerful, but the villains have more than made the match. Although maybe Akayashi Samurai was right.

_ “But anyway, I was getting ahead of myself. Despite all the odds against me, I fight back, and I still live on. I do think the heroes of the future are going to be more numerous, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be large villainous threats. Stand strong, heroes! The age of heroes is going to be nigh! And if it is the age of heroes, then keep going. There’s always room for change and improvement.” _

Damn right there’s room for change and improvement, while it’s an age of heroes, it’s also an age of villains. He’s seen the way people are ignored and thrown aside if they didn’t have the “right” quirk.

_ “My own quirk has definitely been called villainous before.”  _ Akayashi Samurai sat back in his chair.  _ “It’s… well I guess I should really tell you. It’s called Mindknife, which allows me to throw out psychic knives that cause temporary intelligence loss and increased inhibitions, as well as physical pain. I-”  _ The video cut off there, then resumed at a completely different point.

_ “Isn’t about just communication. Becoming friends with other pros is essential to your work. Trust is hard to ear-” _ The video cut off again, then there was some glitching and static in the center. He picked up a couple of words and phrases, but they didn’t make any sense without their context.

Eventually the video stabilized.

_ “For me, having a network of informants and vigilantes is essential. I take many names, and do many things, but having connections in the underworld is critical. In my line of work, you need to sometimes let go of a minnow to catch a catfish. So-” _

The video cut off there, and then it resumed again after a glitch noise and a black screen.

_ “-n’t as black or white as you might think.”  _ It resumed again, in lower quality this time.  _ “There are shades of grey to this world as you’d think. Heroes aren’t universal, and almost nobody thinks of themselves as a villain. What you-” _ The video cut off at that point.

Aizawa shut it off a second after.

“This was an old interview with the first Japanese pro hero, Akayashi Samurai. The video was assembled from bits and pieces that were collected from various sources, it’s amazing this much exists, not many videos exist from this era.”

That was true. The further back you went in history, the less video, picture, and documentational evidence there was. Pre-quirk history? Forget it. He’s done some digging and he couldn’t find anything at all. 

“Alright, now it’s time to discuss this video.” Aizawa said. “Does anyone have any questions?”

Unsurprisingly, it was Ida that first asked a question. “Tadeki-sensei, what did Akayashi Samurai mean when he said that he let’s go of a minnow to catch a catfish?” Ida asked. “Does he mean he sometimes doesn’t catch villains?”

“What you need to understand is that Akayashi Samurai comes from a different time. He was dead and buried over a hundred years ago, back when only 20% of people had quirks, and there were only a small number of heroes. So sometimes he had to pick and choose who to arrest.” Aizawa explained. “But now it’s different, there are far more heroes, so that particular concept is mostly outdated, except in specific scenarios.

“And now, it’s time for your next ethics lesson, with Principal Nezu.” Aizawa said, and then summarily shuffled out. The principal walked in not ten seconds later.

“Welcome, everyone, to our next lesson.” The principal announced, twirling his tail. “Proper amount of force.”

Was T giving these lesson plans to the principal? Because it seemed like these lesson plans are designed to catch him into revealing something. It’s not going to work, of course, but it’s still a little strange and suspicious.

“One part of being a hero is proper application of force. Lethal force is very rarely authorized, and often permission must be derived from the HPSC to apply lethal force. However, sometimes decisions need to be made in a split second, and some villains are  _ so _ powerful that lethal force is justified. That’s the reason that the S-level threat ranking was created, villains considered such a threat that capturing them is secondary to taking them out of the fight.

“So I propose to all of you a question. On paper, this seems pretty clear-cut. However, I propose to you a question. Villains sometimes use this aspect to take advantage of heroes saving them from death to take a final strike. So what do you do in that scenario? That is the question I ask of you.” Principal Nezu said.

Silence followed his question. Maybe this Ethics class would consist entirely of difficult decisions to be made. Although it also seemed likely that Principal Nezu would teach them other things. Now about the question Principal Nezu proposed. There’s more than two answers to this question. A pocket in his costume includes a set of quirk suppressant handcuffs, and he can most likely use those if he can. But what would he do if he didn’t have them, like many of his classmates did? Well that would be different. Injuries were relative, and there would just be too many factors.

“It depends.” He spoke up, breaking the silence. “There’s a lot of variables to consider. For example, are we in a larger fight? With heroes, villains, police and everyone else running around? Then I’d probably leave them there, depending on the state of this villain's injuries, and what I’ve seen of their quirk. There’s way too many variables here, Principal Nezu.”

“Very correct, Midoriya.” The principal replied. “That’s one thing you need to consider all the time when acting as a hero in any capacity, be it disaster relief, helping civilians, or taking down villains, context matters.”

The principal went on to explain how to make decisions based on evidence, basic analysis of wounds, blood loss, and everything of that sort. After about thirty minutes, he finished with. “In the end, it’s never this simple. Heroics is a complicated job, but hopefully I can help you make the right decisions easier. Now I know you don’t like homework, but I’d like you to answer some questions for me. During your internships, think of everything I taught you, and then give an example of you making a decision during the internship. If you weren’t able to make one, that’s fine, tell me how your internship went.”

With that, he left. Mind swimming with new ideas. Was this T’s plan? To distract and divert him? Stop his campaign? Maybe it’s just Principal Nezu teaching them important critical skills, but there’s no way T’s not going to take advantage of this.

He’d forgotten to go to All Might on the day of the Sports Festival to talk about One for All, so he went to All Might after class.

“What is it, young Midoriya?” All Mi- Yagi, in this form, asked.

“Well I wanted to have a conversation about One for All.” He admitted, sitting back in the (very comfortable) chair that was in All Might’s office. “You saw what happened during my fight with Shinso, right?”

“Yeah, you froze and broke out of young Shinso’s mind control, right?” Yagi asked. Okay probably not getting it then.

“You didn’t… feel anything strange, right?” He asked. All Might was many things, and one of them was obliviousness, so he asked him directly.

“Nothing strange, young Midoriya. Why do you ask?” All Might asked, with a hint of concern in his voice. “Did something wrong happen?”

“Well not really.” He admitted. “But I did have a vision.”

“A vision?”

“Basically when I froze, I got a vision of some of the past users of One for All. I was in this shadowy void, and I saw and talked to many of the past users. Did you have anything like this in your life, All Might?”

“No, I was only able to communicate with my mentor for a month or so after her death. Maybe that aspect of One for All is evolving as well? It’s hard to say, young Midoriya. If something like that happens again, will you tell me?”

“Of course, All Might.”

Today, he was cooking dinner alongside Uraraka, Ojiro, and Shoji. He was expecting it to be a rather bumpy ride, but surprisingly, Uraraka knew how to cook pretty well; Ojiro, while not a good cook, was a pretty good learner, and actually ended up being a great help; and Shoji ended up being surprisingly helpful in the kitchen (He wouldn’t know what to do with four extra arms, but Shoji’s probably used to dealing with them at this point). So in record time, they managed to get out a simple meal for everyone, and he taught two more people how to cook. He made a secret deal with Bakugo, Ida, Yaoyorozu, Asui and Sato (although Bakugo only went along with it because “those damn extras need to fucking learn to do it themselves”) to have everyone become at least decent at cooking over the course of three months. This was one of his “easy” days. When they get back from the internships, he’ll have to deal with Kaminari, Hagakure, and Todoroki.

He should maybe talk to principal Nezu about getting some help for Kaminari. From frequent tours of the seedier portions of Musutafu, helping out some of the poorer and more disadvantaged folks, and quirks can have some pretty extreme side effects, especially mentally. Overuse of his quirk seems to fry Kaminari’s brain.

With Kaminari it was difficult for him to focus, and he got easily distracted. Hagakure had trouble with finding her own fingers sometimes, and she didn’t want to do so many things because “It messes up my nails.”

He kept it in his head, but he did want to yell at her that nobody could see her nails so they didn’t matter. But he zipped his lips and kept trying to make it work.

Todoroki was the easiest of the three. He wasn’t rude or anything, in fact he was kind of like Ojiro, and was determined in what he did, but there was so much he had to learn.

He slipped into bed. Everyone liked what he made (except Bakugo, but that’s to be expected. He’s never done anything that Bakugo liked), and all in all, it was a pretty good day. It had been an exhausting day, and he fell asleep the moment his head touched his pillow.

He woke up in the same shadowy realm from the Sports Festival. He recognized the realm due to the ground being covered mostly in shadows, save for the occasional rib bone or skull on the ground, as well as the presence of Ryuk.

“I never expected for this to happen again.” The fourth said. “I thought it was a freak incident, because of the side effects of that Shinso kid’s quirk, but you’re here again. You’re the first person in One for All to do this, although that could be because you are using the Death Note.” The fourth gestured to Ryuk. “I still don’t know why you are here.”

“I’m connected to Izuku here.” Ryuk said. “Like I said before, this is new to me.”

And then Izuku saw someone emerge from the shadows. A sickly thin figure dressed in ragged clothes, you’d be mistaken if you thought this was a beggar, but the figure carried themselves like a hero.

“I am the original wielder of One for All.” The figure announced. “And this is an interesting development. I hadn’t heard of the Death Note in my time, can you tell me more about it?”

“The Death Note is a notebook that allows me to kill anyone I write the name of in it. I can even specify how they die, and even control their actions before they die.” He said, after pausing. He’d just revealed he’s a mass murderer to seven heroes, what would be the repercussion? Well there’s no hiding it anyways, and they’re dead anyways, so who could they talk to?

“Have you used this Death Note?” The original wielder asked.

He nodded. “Like I said before to the fourth and some of the others, I’m using the Death Note to kill leaders of villain organizations and other dangerous villains all around the world, villains that the usual heroes can’t reach.”

“You’re doing good then.” The original wielder replied. “Getting the villains you can’t reach even with One for All. I would’ve preferred a better method then killing, but it’s the best I can hope for.”

The past wielders of One for All were more supportive of his use of the Death Note, but like Akayashi Samurai explained, heroes of this era had different morals and beliefs. There was a slight noise, and he looked over and saw a small grey sphere, with a fire-like… something coming off of it in waves.

“What is this?” He asked, curious.

“This is One for All. Or at least a representation of it. I’m not exactly sure which.” It was the third wielder, the man wreathed in something like fire, that spoke this time. “All Might was able to invoke the power of the meta ability, but not the flames.”

“What does that mean?” He asked. It felt like he was missing something  _ big, _ but what was it? It was like a puzzle that he didn’t have all the pieces for. What was that mystery? What was it?

“I’m not sure, but it feels like you’ll have a deeper connection to One for All then even All Might had.

Whatever what meant, that did sound like it would be good. “Are you sure these visions aren’t going to appear when I’m fighting a villain or something?”

“This should only appear when you’re sleeping or meditating or something like that.” The third replied. “So you shouldn’t worry about that.”

He watched as the past holders started to fade away.

“Our connection is weakening, but stay safe, kid. You’ll be a great wielder of One for All yet.” The fourth said. And then they all faded away into the distance.

He jerked awake to someone knocking on his window. He looked up to see it was Aoyama, holding cheese in his off hand.

What’s going on? Why does Aoyama have cheese with him?  _ How _ did Aoyama get to his window? Why is Aoyama here anyways? Whatever, his life is strange enough anyways, so he got up to open the window.

By the time he stumbled around to get to the window, Aoyama had disappeared, and there was a small plate with a slice of some cheese on it. What cheese was it? He’s not an expert so he has no clue, but at least it tasted nice. Maybe he had imagined things. Aoyama’s balcony was two meters from his, and there was no sign that Aoyama was ever there. But the cheese?

He should probably go back to sleep, but he checked the one alarm clock he brought with him. The red digital numbers read 3:47 am. Yeah he’s not going to go back to sleep. He’s going to need some coffee at this point, probably. 

He opened his laptop though, because he might as well find another name for the notebook. He hardly did any original research anymore, all he had to do now was fact-check the most promising villains that came along his path. Such as Al-Adrazi, a conqueror who hid his face and was raising a ruckus in Iraq, to put it mildly. He’d heard of Al-Adrazi, and actually figured out his first name, Salmul. So when the forum post on  _ eyesofkallover.com  _ mentioned that Al-Adrazi’s real name as Salmul Conner, he took it very seriously. A little digging, and he found that a relatively small news site, the Mosul Weekly, reported that a man by the name of Salmul Conner had deep ties to the Adrazi Caliphate, and could possibly be Al-Adrazi himself. The quirk information matched up, as Salmul Conner’s quirk, Friend, was a much, much weaker version of the quirk Al-Adrazi possessed, Command, but it worked the exact same way, meaning that Salmul Conner was Al-Adrazi.

A fairly clean-and-dry case, perfect in this work.

Now, it’s time for him to get that coffee. It would be a long day without it.


	42. Overkill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you're wondering about the 42/51 chapters, don't worry! This story is far from over.  
> This is merely book 1. Of how many? Idk. We'll find out. Maybe 4.

He didn’t do the best in the Sports Festival, but that’s to be expected. So many of his classmates were really strong, and that’s not even counting the other class, and even people from the non-hero courses to account for. But he’d gotten further than he expected, which was definitely a good thing.

All for One was expecting information from him, so he had to get something else together. Hagakure was already creating a report on the rest of his class’ quirks, so he might as well focus on the next best thing he was good at. Figuring out people.

Drawing up information on his classmates was easy, gathering information from his observations and adding conclusions from what he figured out. What order does he start from? Why not seat order? It’s pretty arbitrary, but any order would be arbitrary.

He wrote his notes in English. Looking at the results from Present Mic’s english test, only a few of his classmates would be able to read his notes. All he had to do was keep his notes away from Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugo, Yaoyorozu and Ida. They weren’t the type to go rooting through people’s things. So he took out a nondescript notebook, and started writing down some notes. He took care to make sure that it was in a neater handwriting than usual, just to be sure.

He dedicated a full page to everyone, despite not having enough information for anyone to fill a full page. He’ll write more later when he gets more.

Right now he has to focus on his second plan. Decoupling himself from the League. It’s risky and probably going to go wrong, because All for One probably has some sort of mind-reading or more subtler analysis or body-language reading quirk, and his plan would be dead in the water. And that’s not counting the doctor or Shigaraki or Hagakure.

Basically, he’s got a snowball's chance in hell of getting out alive and in one piece, but he’s trying his damn best. There’s only one thing that’s holding him back.

Shimiko.

His younger sister was with his parents right now, who were pretty much in All for One’s pocket. How could he abandon her? She didn’t go through any of the training he did, although it’s probably coming up eventually for her. She got a quirk out of left field, unlike their parents or his quirks, and it seemed to be pretty powerful.

Maybe he’d need another talk with Seishin. Out of everyone in Stain’s group, he feels like he understands Seishin the most. It could be a lie, it could be a front, but he didn’t think so. It didn’t seem like Seishin was the type to pull something like that.

A special knock on his door showed that Hagakure was here. He straightened himself and banished any thoughts of betraying the League. He opened the door and went to the bathroom real quick, just to explain opening his door. Hagakure was wearing clothes manufactured from her DNA so they were transparent, and they were also sound dampening.

“I hope you’re actually doing some work here, and not just dreaming about running away from the League. You do know All for One won’t ever let you go, you’re a cog in his machine, a piece on his board, like a knight or a rook.” Hagakure explained. “What do you expect to do against the might of his organizations?”

He gave a laugh at that statement. It wasn’t a humorous laugh, it was a mocking laugh. “What makes you think you’re a rook? We’re pawns, Hagakure. That’s it. And you seem to not mind being a cog in a machine.”

“I have purpose, at least.” She said, sitting down in his spare chair. “And did you actually do what Shiggy wanted?”

He tossed the notebook lightly at her, which she caught. “I’m not the best at analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of quirks and people’s fighting styles, but I am good at figuring out people mentally and stuff like that. I threw the best observations on their quirks and fighting style I could, but it’s probably not as good as your stuff.”

She grabbed her own notebook and slipped the now two notebooks into a special clear plastic bag. “Why is the portal in your room?” She grumbled as she opened one of the drawers in his desk, and took out the various books and nonsense he shoved in the drawer as concealment for the portal.

The portal was created from this one guy from India that All for One got under his employ. The quirk was powerful, able to create permanent (and sometimes very large) portals. But the portals had some specific rules and limitations, for example no living organisms can pass through. Well they can, but the organism would die. Also anything that comes through the portal is deadly to touch, so that’s why there’s a protective plastic case. Very convenient for killing people, as this portal guy often did, being immune to the effects of his own portals, but somewhat inconvenient for transporting materials and substances.

Still, it was a portal that was untraceable. All for One found out that Kurogiri’s warp gate left residual energy for up to three weeks, so this was the next best solution. Sure there was a risk of the portal being found out, but all he has to do is disrupt the portal and it will close within a second. The most secure transport they had.

“You’re going there over the weekend, right?” Hagakure asked him. “Because I couldn’t get away.”

“I was going to, yeah. This Sunday I’m headed over because apparently All for One wants to see me before I do an internship. I picked the hero because her quirk works well with mine.”

He handed the paper which showed the agencies he had applied to. “I could only find two agencies that could work with my quirk well, so the third was just something interesting.”

Hagakure read the paper quickly, and then put it down. “These seem like a good choice, I’m actually surprised.”

“Hey, I’m not  _ that _ dumb, Hagakure.” He replied. “I’ve been making good choices lately.”

“Well if you’re looking for good decisions to make, I’d choose to abandon this escape plan of yours. You know what will happen if you try.”

“I’ve already told you, I’ve stopped trying.” He lied. He didn’t know what All for One and Shigaraki were holding over her head, but what was it? It probably wasn’t a younger sibling, but it could be. Did All for One give Hagakure her quirk? That seemed unlikely. Invisibility? He’ll he’s surprised that All for One didn’t take that for himself. He knows why he got his quirk, because it’s too dangerous for the ancient supervillain to use in his wrecked state. 

Wait, maybe that was what was being held over Hagakure’s head. He’d steal her invisibility quirk.

“I had the start of a plan in my mind, but I quickly realized it wouldn’t work, and I scrapped it. And I think you’re suspicious of me to hide your own plan, maybe even from yourself.” He added. He needed Hagakure on the defensive. “What is he holding over you, is it your quirk? Family?”

He couldn’t see Hagakure’s face, but she definitely looked confused. “No, no, you got this all wrong. I  _ chose _ to do this, I wanted to be more than a pawn.”

“And you’re not a pawn now? From what he said, there’s another in the second year, and one that’s a sidekick at a well-known agency, so we  _ are _ pawns.”

“We were sent here because All Might is teaching this year, and he wants to know how and why All Might is teaching at UA. Think of it, it doesn’t make sense. Why would the top ranked hero and symbol of peace drastically reduce the amount of hero work he does in order to teach?” He’d reached this conclusion a week ago, and it was the only conclusion that made any logical sense. He hasn’t shared his observations to anyone yet, and if he’s right this might be trouble for All Might, but this information is going to hopefully solidify his position in the “villain” camp, at least for Hagakure and the rest. He’ll apologize when All for One is behind bars. Or hopefully six feet under, if he has any say in it, or if he can determine All for One’s real name somehow.

“Why is that?” Hagakure asked. So she hadn’t figured it out yet.

“All Might’s getting weaker.” He said, with an air of finality. “Shigaraki and All for One already know this, that’s what the Nomu was for. It wouldn’t stand a chance against All Might in his prime, but it gave him a difficult fight, and if the situation had gone differently, perhaps All Might would be dead. But I think… no I  _ know _ there’s more to this whole thing that All for One is keeping from us. Like for example, why can’t he just take All Might’s quirk and be done with it.”

“He’s got a flair for the dramatic, you know. Maybe he just wanted a nemesis for his own amusement, and when his life is really in danger, he’ll just take All Might’s quirk.”

“I don’t know, I still feel like there’s something we’re not seeing. Like a puzzle piece we weren’t given.” He laid down in his bed. “It’s just so  _ frustrating _ sometimes not knowing everything.”

“You’ll just have to get used to it, we’re not important enough pieces to know this top-secret information.” She replied. “It’s just natural, you know? You shouldn’t question any of this.”

What? How did that make any sense? She can’t be  _ this _ stupid. Or maybe it isn’t stupidity. Maybe she has more information than he does. No, down that path was distrust and mistakes. Hagakure probably didn’t have more information than him.

“Anyway, I’ll go now, I’ll let you stew in that information for a while, I have non-theoretical stuff to do.” She then walked out.

What is he supposed to do now? Maybe call Seishin? He snagged the villain’s phone number (probably secured to hell and back, because it’s an Indian phone number, and anyone who uses an Indian phone number knows that it’s damn near untraceable, thanks to the crazy privacy and security laws in the country.) He’d snagged one himself, and used that when he acted as a villain. Would Seishin pick up? The guy seemed very busy. Still, he might as well try. He needed someone to confirm his theories about All Might, and Seishin seems pretty smart.

* * *

His burner phone was ringing.

This phone was disconnected from the main servers, so it wasn’t a scam call. It was another Indian phone number, so it could literally be anyone, the 12-digit phone number staring back at him.

Alright, Izuku, let’s see who it is. It’s pretty late at this point, but that’s never stopped anyone. He stepped into the closet and took the call. Thank the gods the walls of UA were pretty thick. 

“Who is this?” He asked. He didn’t recognize the number.

_ “Crafter. I… I need your help with something.” _

He went back into his main room and opened the doors to his balcony, preparing to jump off and escape (it would be difficult, but he’d manage. If Crafter was in mortal danger…

“Where are you? Do you need help?” He whisper-shouted into his phone. “Say ‘I’m okay’ if you need help.”

_ “No, no, nothing like that.”  _ Crafter hastily said.  _ “I’m as safe as I’ll ever be at this point, but I have more of a theoretical problem.” _

He slipped back into his closet at this point. Whew, crisis averted, at least temporarily. “What’s the theoretical problem you’re having?”

_ “Do you think All Might is getting weaker?”  _ Crafter asked from the other side of the phone.

He froze at that point. All Might  _ was _ getting weaker. All might could only act as a hero for two hours and a handful of minutes. And even in his muscle form, his punches packed less heat, he was slower, less durable.

“I don’t know, Crafter.” He lied. “Unlike Stain, I’m not really obsessed with All Might. I don’t even follow him that well. It’s very possible, though. What evidence do you have?”

He just wanted to know exactly how much All for One and Shigaraki were telling their minions. Did Crafter know about One for All? Probably not, that sounds like a secret All for One would keep to himself. Maybe he told Shigaraki, but that’s likely it.

_ “Well why would All Might become a teacher? There’s only so many hours in a day.”  _ A much truer statement then Crafter probably thinks.  _ “Maybe All Might’s passed his prime. Maybe being a hero for over three decades has finally taken its toll. I don’t know why, but he was definitely less powerful at USJ then ten years before. Maybe he’s looking for someone else to be the Symbol of Peace when he retires?” _

Crafter had hit the nail right on the head. Shit he needs to deflect.

“Why would All Might be looking at hero students to take his legacy? Why not some of the Pro Heroes out there? Like Endeavor, for example.” (As much as he hated saying it, some people would say it makes sense.) “Or maybe Hawks or Miruko?”

Crafter laughed from the other end of the line.  _ “I thought you were smart, Seishin. Endeavor’s a competent hero, definitely, but he’s no Symbol of Peace. And Hawks and Miruko are well-established heroes by themselves, I don’t think they’d take on the mantle of All Might. But a hero student, especially a second or first year, doesn’t have a definitive image yet, so they could become the new Symbol to hold Japan’s hero society together. I’m not as good with tactics like my partner is, but I’m good at big-picture, strategic view, and you seem like you also are pretty smart on the big picture as well, so what do you think?” _

Dammit, Crafter, you’re pushing me into a corner here? What’s he supposed to say to Crafter to divert him away from this idea? Think, Izuku, think. There has to be  _ something _ that he can say. This conversation was very close to extremely dangerous territory, and this information was probably still going to All for One regardless of what Crafter said. 

“I’m not focused on All Might or UA, like at all, so I’m going to defer to your knowledge on this. Is that everything?”

_ “Yeah, sorry Seishin, have a good night IG. And are you going to get here this weekend? I have…  _ information _ to tell you.” _

He’d be dropping by on Sunday already, and he’d planned out everything. “I should be able to. I also have information.” It was easy to pick up on the subtext that Crafter wanted to advance plans for his escape.

_ “Bye, Seishin.” _

Click.

He took a deep breath, wrote down the information of Crafter in the Death Note (he didn’t even write down “Crafter”, just “C”), and then started research for another villain for the Notebook. The name Eiayjgeai Kciuyie showed up several times. Eiayjgeai Kciuyie (How the  _ hell _ do you pronounce that? He’s not even going to try) apparently ran an organization that sold all sorts of slaves to people, based on quirks. Some of the people who posted on these larger forum sites were  _ very  _ knowledgeable, paragraphs and pages of information, statistics, documents, pictures, videos, and files. Sometimes there was enough information that he had to check if the target wasn’t dead by a copycat killer (which was increasingly likely, based on the fact that there’s, by his estimate, over six hundred currently active), or arrested by the heroes (specifically in India and North America).

Eiayjgeai Kciuyie wasn’t currently dead or arrested by heroes (at least it hadn’t hit the media yet) and he’d gone through  _ pages _ of documents, and pictures that made him bring up the subseddit s/eyebleach, to look at pictures of cute dogs, cats, and other animals made him feel better, in between horrifying pictures of people with mutation quirks he doesn’t even want to think about. (and when he becomes a hero, creating a charity for people with mutation quirks is one of his top priorities. He’s got no idea why some particular mutations are considered so sexualized).

So considering all of this, he didn’t care at all when he wrote this cruel person’s name in the Death Note. Another villain down.

* * *

She sat in her room.

As much as she’s supposed to have an ally in her infiltration mission, she can’t help but think she’d do better alone. Her partner has plans of her own, she doesn’t believe him for a second when he said he didn’t have any plans of escaping the clutches of the League. She could almost laugh at his pitiful attempts. She’s been through this whole song and dance before.

There are disadvantages to having an invisible body. Well it’s disadvantageous for her, and the advantage is in All for One’s court, because there would certainly be questions if people saw her body.

Should she inform All for One she thinks her partner’s going to try to escape? Probably not. All for One probably knows anyway. She’s probably sure he knows everything, or at least close to it. How did All for One ever lose to All Might? She’d never know. Honestly, the thought of facing off against All Might scared her. Every villain that faced off against All Might lost, ever since his debut. Even All for One, the master of the underground, the man with a thousand quirks, lost.

But no, All Might has made society weak, people become complacent, and everyone ignores their responsibility as people, as members of the human race they all a part of, and instead they say it’s a hero’s duty. 

It’s an age of heroes, but in all the wrong ways. And the worst part is people don’t even  _ see  _ it. The reason she decided to work with All for One was because All for One saw this truth and spread it around the world. And nobody is going to stop him. Not All Might, not T, and certainly not any other hero.

It’s the grand plan, the finest strategy ever crafted. In the end, the loyalty of one insignificant person doesn’t matter, not one bit.

* * *

“Alright, I know it might be a mistake to do this so close to your work studies, but I digress.” Aizawa-sensei explained. “But no worries, that’s why we have Recovery Girl on standby. Today we’re doing a free-for-all exercise. Me and All Might will be watching, and when someone is tagged, they are out. Our rule is final. There is no safe area. There are two winners, the person who is last out and the person who tags the most people.”

A combination of stealth and combat? Definitely up his alley. He’d thought about redesigning his costume, but he decided against it until his work study was over. After getting a feel for real hero work, he’d see how his costume choices stand up, and he’ll be able to determine what sort of redesigns he’d need.

This exercise would certainly make him tired, and it’s the day before he has to visit the League… well it depends on the place they're doing this exercise. He’d figured out this morning that the guy with the unpronounceable name had already been taken out by one of his most successful copycat killers. He didn’t know who Inquisitorium was, but he hoped he’d never meet them in person. As much as he appreciates people doing work for him, they can be pretty freaky.

So… stealth or combat? Probably a combination, depending on where the exercise takes place, which after a quick bus ride, he found out it was a forest area. Uneven terrain, low visibility, and then there’s the trees that can be climbed. All in all, a unique place, different from the cityscape that was the place they did their first battle, a more urban area.

They had ten minutes to disperse throught the dense forest. It was dense enough of a forest that even though it was midday, it was pretty dark. It was a temperate forest, with many oak and conifers.

_ “Match Start!”  _ The voice of Present Mic ran throught the forest, and almost immediately he started looking around. He didn’t activate One for All yet, because the lighting (which he  _ still _ can’t explain), while dark, was still bright enough to attract people.

So to the treetops it is. He quickly found a largish oak tree and climbed up it. He’d picked correctly, because this three reached out above the general treetop level. There was a glacier in the distance, and explosions somewhere else. Alright, that’s the direction he’s headed. 

On the climb down, he paused when he saw Ashido walking through the forest, creating quite a bit of noise. He made his way doen the tree, and then turned on One for All to about 10%, and dashed over to tag Ashido.

“Aw, man.” Ashido cried out. “I barely heard you.”

“You should work on your observation and stealth skills.” He replied. “I wasn’t even trying to be sneaky.”

And it appeared that they weren’t calling out people who were being eliminated, which means that there could be any number of people still in the forest, but there’s no chance he eliminated someone first.

The current plan he’s working with is to let Bakugo and Todoroki fight each other (Which should be easy, as Bakugo wants to prove himself to Todoroki), and then he’ll take out whoever is next. Of course the darkness in the forest made Dark Shadow stronger, so he should certainly look out for Tokoyami.

And Hagakure. Her invisibility made her incredibly powerful in this environment.

It took him another half hour or so to find other people. He eliminated Sato and Mineta as well, finding them attempting to sneak through the forest. And this was where his dark-colored, green costume shined. Sure he wasn’t the sneakiest person out there, but he’s definitely not an easy mark to take out.

The noise of explosions and ice continued in the distance, so Bakugo and Todoroki were still fighting. So who else was still in the game at this point? It’s hard to exactly say at this point, but maybe he should start searching for the people who were hiding.

And then it started raining. His first thought was that UA could even cause rain, but then he remembered that he’d checked the weather forecast for this morning, and it predicted a 76% chance of rain. So it’s just natural rain, then.

But as it started to pick up, he would have to adjust to fighting in the rain. It decreased visibility even more, making it hard to see ahead of him in the dark forest. It was time for him to use his hood/mask combination. Using this and the sound of the rain, he blended in perfectly. He could pass not two meters from someone, and they wouldn’t even notice. Maybe not, though, it wasn’t getting as dark as he was expecting.

Still he was able to get the drop on Shoji, despite the other teen using extra eyes and ears. Intel and information can only get you so far in a game like this. As he took down Shoji, he picked up a fallen branch. Force multipliers were always good. Maybe he should get a weapon for his costume, like a staff or something.

He’d stopped hearing ice, and he thought he could hear words at the very end.

“Dammit, Half-n-half! You got me tagged by invisibitch when I was distracted!”

He wasn’t hearing any ice as of right now, so maybe both Bakugo and Todoroki were taken out? Maybe, he just doesn’t know.

A hand brushed against his shoulder. Dammit.

_ “Hagakure is the last person in the game, but Todoroki eliminated seven students!” _


	43. Vigilance

Like twice before, the only indication of where Shigaraki was bringing him for this night’s meeting was a deep purple-black portal almost indistinguishable from the background. Almost. But the portal was moving, and normal walls don’t move.

Like most every alley in the city, it was littered with trash, the dumpsters overflowing with garbage, a homeless person passed out, covered in coats and blankets, bottle in hand. He picked his way through trash bags and bottles and cans and all sorts of plastic and paper and styrofoam containers and wrappers, refuse from thousands of people that just don’t  _ care _ about the world they live in.

That’s why he’ll continue his crusade, the quest and path laid out for him, to rid the world of fake heroes and change the world. He hadn’t been planning on becoming an international icon, but Kira propelled him into the limelight of the world’s stage, and like hell is he going to let that stop him from taking out fakes.

He walked through the portal, and he was thankful he’d decided to get an eyepatch, because he was immediately greeted with bright sunlight, the sun hanging straight in the air. The grass was mainly green; long, thin strands waving in the wind. But what was most striking was the other scenery. There were mountains in the distance, but what was most striking was a collection of abandoned farmhouses and buildings, and there were black pillars maybe a hundred meters in height, seemingly intact, scattered across the landscape. They were in all angles, some fully knocked over, others tilted at an angle, still others standing up fully.

The gentle wind brought the scent of plants and natural growth to his nose, combined with a faint scent of ash and smoke. Although that doesn’t really narrow down where this was, the chaos of the world in past and present made burned down and abandoned structures commonplace.

“Where did you find this place?” He asked. “How long does it take for you to find these places? Maybe this is why you didn’t do well in the USJ attack, you spend way too much time finding thematic places to host conversations.”

“Relax, Stain, I found an old internet list called ‘top 100 old and abandoned locations’ and just pick one randomly when I want to have a conversation. It took me like five minutes.” Shigaraki almost-yelled, walking out from one of the ruins. “So I have some Nomu ready. None of them are on the strength of the one at USJ, but I’ll be using them to further my goals in Hosu. Does Thursday sound good?”

“I have a target in mind, so that shouldn’t be a problem.” He replied, boots sinking slightly into the soft ground. Now that he was closer, he could see there were a few small ponds scattered throughout. So this was some temperate wetlands. Based on the scattered buildings and their structure, this was in the United States. But what about the pillars? Maybe someone’s quirk? That’s not the main focus at this point, he has to find out Native’s patrol route after this meeting.

“So what are these Nomu? From the way you described it, it sounds more like a weapon then a person.”

Shigaraki sat down on a chair that he had hidden in the grass for some reason. Probably inherited the flair for the dramatic from All for One. The main supervillain seemed to view this entire thing as a giant game. “I can’t tell you exactly what they are, but they are living weapons, biologically engineered to resist the strain of multiple quirks.”

Humans were only designed to use one quirk, so having multiple quirks in the same person without safeguards (All for One’s quirk-giving quirk, or a similar quirk) would probably not go well.

“Alright, so you’re just going to… throw them out randomly to cause chaos?”

“Yeah pretty much. You’ll use this distraction to take out your target. Hosu is swarming with heroes right now for some reason, so you might want to take it slow afterwards, or leave the city entirely.”

“I can take on a few heroes.” He replied. His record spoke for itself, after all.

“What about Endeavor? Hawks? Stalwart?” Shigaraki asked again, getting up from the chair, grabbing it with his full hand to turn it into dust, and casually walking over. “Four of the top twenty heroes are in Hosu, including the number 2 and 3 heroes. Can you handle them in a fight, Stain?”

That wasn’t intel he had access to. He knew there were quite a few heroes in Hosu, but not Endeavor and Hawks. He assumed Endeavor was still in Tokyo, and Hawks all the way in Fukuoka. Maybe Endeavor would stop over, but he didn’t expect for Hawks to come up halfway up Japan to hunt him down.

Could he handle Endeavor? Could he defeat the Flame Hero? 

“I’ll never know until I face them down.” He finally replied, after a pause. “I’ve faced down a couple of fire users, so I know how to fight them. Endeavor’s no different.”

Instead of actually responding, Shigaraki pulled out a phone, scrolled though it for a while, and then clicked play.

It was a video of Endeavor, in Miyate (a mostly abandoned city), fighting a villain with a concrete manipulation quirk (very powerful in the abandoned city), and the Flame hero was vaporizing literal tons of concrete with blasts of superheated fire, tendrils of flames vaporizing the concrete orbs thrown his way.

This may be slightly more difficult than he had initially thought.

“You just happened to have that video on standby?” He asked. “It seems like a very specific video.”

“I have videos on several heroes, Stain.” Shigaraki replied, putting his phone away. “I’m learning quite a bit from Sensei, and one thing that he told me was to be prepared. I’m a fan of having the right tools for the job, Stain.”

“That only makes sense, Shigaraki.” He replied. “I have ways of dealing with fire wielders.”

“You’re doing this alone?” Shigaraki asked him, looking a bit surprised. “I thought you’d bring along someone like Toga or Spinner, or maybe even both.”

“It’s not like I’m the leader or in charge of them.” He said. “Spinner and Toga are doing their own thing, and I have no clue where Dabi is. We’re not like your League, Shigaraki. It’s just a group of people with the same goal, removing fake heroes from society.”

Shigaraki then walked over to the nearest pillar. It was one of the ones that was standing straight up.

“Why not just tear it all down?” Shigaraki asked, a manic gleam in his red eyes from behind the hand mask he wore. A hand was placed on the large pillar, and it slowly began to crack and decay. “It’s not just heroes, Stain, it’s society in general. People throw their problems onto heroes, denying their personal duties as people.” Shigaraki continued talking, as the pillar slowly began to decay, and even started to tip over. “People are already seeing the cracks, thanks to you and Kira. But what I need to do is exploit these cracks.” Shigaraki was walking around the edge of the pillar, trailing his hand along the pillar, and the decay continued spreading along it, the pillar beginning to buckle and shake. “People need to see that the heroes they trust can’t be relied on, and they need to do things for themselves. The longer Kira stands against the world’s greatest detective, the better it is for me.” He walked away from the pillar at this point, as it collapsed behind him, a low rumble spreading along the ground.

Obviously the impact was more than Shigaraki was expecting, because the villain stumbled and almost fell, but he caught himself.

“Where did you get that flare for the dramatic from? Was it from All for One?” he asked. Every move he made in a fight was to win. He had no time to waste on dramatics.

“Don’t worry about it, Stain. I’ll stay alive and out of jail long enough to continue my quest. Although I don’t know if I’d say the same about you. You were recently promoted to an S-class villain, by the way.”

While not surprising, it is a bit concerning. Being classified as an S-class villain meant that any vigilante or civilian could take him out and would receive only a slap on the wrist, and he could even be killed.

“So what? That only means that I have to be careful. S-class isn’t given out lightly. That means that I’m a threat to the entire world. Not because of my quirk or physical capabilities, but because of what I believe, the fact that worldwide people are starting to take a hard look at the heroes that protect them.

“And even if I do get arrested, even die, I become a martyr for the cause.”

It would be hubris to assume that he’d be the one to execute his will. He’s not suicidal, but he doesn’t fear death at all.

“Whatever, go do whatever it is you do. I’ll be releasing the Nomu on Thursday, don’t miss it.”

A portal opened in front of him at that point, and he walked through it, which deposited him back in the alley he had left from. After waiting a minute or so for his eyes to adjust, he returned to the Base.

He had a lot of things to plan now.

* * *

After seeing all the work study offers he had gotten (less than that damn half-and-half bastard for some reason), he’d ended up selecting Best Jeanist. An effective combatant, despite his deceptively weak quirk.

Everyone wears clothing, and Best Jeanist can quickly and effectively take down villains because of this and his own quirk. Who else would he be able to learn from to quickly take down villains? Certainly none of the other weak heroes that offered him a work study.

He’d overheard from Deku talking to his friends that the damn nerd secured a work study with Hawks. As in, the current Number 3 hero, while he was stuck with the Number 4.

Something  _ weird _ was going on with Deku, he was damn sure of it. It had all started a year ago, with the… villain attack, and it had accelerated about five months ago, with that damn Stain video. Deku was hiding something, and he wasn’t exactly sure  _ what _ the fuck it was. He’d overheard the damn nerd muttering something about the Kira investigation. Like hell he’d let Deku get to Kira before him.

But something else was playing in his mind, a thought running through his brain. Kira could kill anyone in the world. There were some limitations to the power, but not nearly enough to make it make any sense.

Still, Kira probably had a hideout somewhere, using his quirk to kill anyone he thinks of as evil. Would the villain target people who go after him? Would dozens of heroes rush into some warehouse only to become corpses seconds later?

What was he supposed to do against the ultimate evil?

Become Number One, get stronger until no one, not even Kira, can stand in his path.

* * *

“Sensei, everyone is going to be here soon, do you have anything new to add?” A thin young man spoke to a computer screen.

_ “Nothing else, Tomura. I have other things I’m working on.”  _ A voice from the screen replied.  _ “This is  _ your _ meeting, after all.” _

“You’re still working on catching Kira.” He replied, unimpressed. “T’s had over a month and international governmental cooperation on his side and he’s gone basically nowhere for over four months. Do you have any ideas that T doesn’t?”

_ “A few. But I’m going to stay my hand until Stain is arrested by the heroes. I can be patient, I’ll wait as long as I need so I can get Kira’s quirk.” _

“Sure you can wait, but every day you spend hiding out in a bunker or whatever, the greater the risk some underground hero or vigilante stumbles on this place. Giyan-Yos ward has a lot of underground heroes and vigilantes poking around this area.”

_ “And there are a lot of abandoned buildings in Giyan-Yos thanks to Avalon attacking this area forty-five years ago. As long as you take the precautions me and the good doctor told you about, we should be good.” _

He wasn’t exactly sure what Sensei’s plan was, but he’d never failed yet. Well that was sort of a lie. He knew why Sensei wanted to catch Kira. Time and time again he’d heard about how Kira had killed the leaders of yet another one of his organizations. Sensei wanted to punish Kira for daring to interfere with his plans. 

He’d put Sensei’s computer in another room, because he had plans of his own that he didn’t want Sensei to hear. Or that’s what he wanted Sensei to think. Maybe that’s Sensei’s plan after all. He’s seen Sensei’s plans, they’re all convoluted and filled with fifty too many steps. If there’s anything he’s learned from gameplay, it’s that the simplest plans are the easiest to execute, and the more steps you have, the more things can go wrong. 

But he’ll let Sensei have his convoluted plans, and he’ll do the dirty work. Maybe it’s all part of Sensei’s “growing up” plan or whatever.

“Kurogiri.” He announced, walking into the main bar room, where Kurogiri looked like he was checking the inventory or something. He left management of the bar to Kurogiri anyway. “Make portals for Breakin and our two moles.”

Kurogiri opened three portals, and Breakin and the two moles walked through. “Thank you for making time for this. The next time we meet, it will be after our little Nomu showcase in Hosu.”

“If your Nomu things are the same as the ones you unleashed at the USJ, then I think you have a pretty good chance at taking out some heroes.” Breakin commented, sitting down in the barstool. “Hell, both Endeavor and Hawks are in Hosu, and if the Nomu can take them out then that would be the perfect show for the League.”

“Unfortunately they aren’t as strong as the one in USJ, but they are strong enough to take out several heroes at once. Hosu is swarming with heroes right now, and it will be easy enough for the Nomu to take a couple of heroes out in the confusion.”

Breakin looked at her phone at this point. “Is there anything you need me to do at this point, maybe stealing something or other?”

“Your goal is going to be infiltration. Manual’s agency is probably going to be empty most likely at the time. I want you to steal his patrol schedule, and any other ones you can get. We’ll help out Stain for now.”

“Why are you going along with Stain? Villains of this power don’t often work together.” Breakout said. Why was she asking so many damn questions? He pays her to do a job not to ask questions.

“It’s mutually advantageous.” He replied. “Anyway, we should be seeing Stain’s group.”

Kurogiri opened five portals a couple of seconds later and the five members of Stain’s group walked through. Stain, Dabi, Spinner, Toga and Seishin. 

“Alright, everyone.” He announced. “How many of you can get to Hosu on Thursday night? I want to make this as big as possible. This’ll be the prime opportunity for you to eliminate some fakes.”

“Sure.” Dabi was the first to speak. Which was what he was expecting. Stain was already in Hosu anyways, so the Hero Killer most likely wouldn’t add to the conversation if necessary. “I’ll head over to Hosu, sounds like a good time.”

“I’ll do the same thing!” Toga cheerily announced. “Who knows, maybe I’ll find someone cute there!”

“I’ll be happy to help fulfill Stain’s will.” Spinner announced. “I’ll head to Hosu as well.”

He inclined his head to Seishin at this point. What is the mysterious person thinking? Seishin wore a helmet that completely covered their face, and a device that distorts their voice, and adds a robotic twang. That plus the bulky clothing makes determining anything about Seishin damn near impossible, which was most certainly by design. No visible quirk, not even a gender or approximate age, although he suspected Seishin was younger due to their shorter stature. A teenager, most likely.

_ “I’m busy this next week, but I’ll see if I can pop into Hosu on Thursday. I won’t need any of Kurogiri’s portals, though, so you won’t have to do that.”  _ Seishin said.

“What, do you have a speed or teleportation quirk or something?” He asked. Sure the chance of Seishin giving him a straight answer at this point was near zero, but maybe he’ll get a clue about  _ something _ of the mysterious villain.

_ “No, but I can move around quite freely.”  _ Seishin replied.  _ “Anyway, is there anything else you would like to tell me? I’d like to think there’s more to this plan than just causing chaos in Hosu.” _

One thing he knew about Seishin was that the guy was smart. And perceptive. Which was the worst combination, mysterious and highly intelligent. 

“Our attack on the USJ wasn’t as publicly televised as I like. So perhaps attacking a city will make the media focus on us now.” He announced. 

_ “That seems like a good plan.” _

The pieces are all in place, now it’s time to wait for the heroes, Kira, and T to make their moves. Like Sensei explained to him, this was a game. 

But this is no game, he’s played plenty of games before and real life is different. There is no save scumming, no second life, no pause button. So Sensei can play his little games, he has real shit to do.

“That’s all I have for now, Crafter, go and get what you can from Seishin.” He said with a wave of his hand. Maker told him about Crafter questioning his place in the League, but he’ll just have to keep a closer eye on their mole. And remind him of the reason why his place in the League is the way it is. He’d been actively holding back Crafter’s parents from training Shimiko as hard as they wanted to, so all he had to do was literally less than nothing. It would be  _ easier  _ for him if Crafter double-timed the League.

* * *

The meeting was done, thank goodness.

Well there may be more that he wouldn’t know about. Or at least Shiggy thinks he won’t know. He has a bluetooth microphone and camera he dropped in the room, and hooked up to the electricity of the bar and a receiver device in the alleyway, buried underneath some garbage. Nobody really cares about that trash anyways. That’s the next thing he’s going to fix. People just don’t care about anything that’s not themselves anymore. Society is hero-based, and he’ll fix society by fixing the heroes. 

But the first step is helping who he can. And at this point the person he could help was Crafter, a traitor that didn’t want to be one. Crafter had trusted him a lot in this scenario, so he had done the same for the reluctant and forced villain. He could’ve tried to find out who Crafter was, and he probably could have succeeded, but he didn’t. Crafter wants to keep his identity a secret, so he’ll give him that privilege.

Plus he’d have to explain how he knew them personally, which would be a bit awkward.

“So Shiggy wants some information then.” He stared. “Well I will give some information about myself. I got this costume from Giran, and I’m fifteen years old. Let Shiggy use that information as he wants.”

He heard Crafter gasp a bit. “You’re fifteen? I thought you were older. What are you doing running around in a stupid helmet and shit when you should be at school. I’m stuck in this shit, and not by choice. Trust me, if I could leave, I would, but Shiggy is holding my younger sister over my head. My parents have wanted to train her to be a villain for over a year now and Shiggy has been holding them back. So all he has to do is go hands-off. And my family’s training is… brutal.”

“You’ve experienced this firsthand?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Crafter replied. “My parents weren’t as into this when I was younger as they are now, but yeah. I’ve used my quirk to the point where it caused me pain. And… I don’t know why I allow this to happen. It’s… I don’t know  _ how _ to feel about it all.”

Could this be Todoroki? No, it couldn’t. Todoroki didn’t have a younger sibling. And from what he heard, Endeavor’s training started pretty much immediately when Todoroki developed his quirk.

“Well, I’ll help you get out.” He said with finality. “But maybe we should wait until after All for One is defeated and in jail or dead.”

Crafter gave a nervous laugh at this point. “You’re dumber than you look, Seishin.” Crafter said, in a tone that made him think that Crafter was trying to lie to himself. “You really think All for One can be defeated?”

“Look at the direction everything is going.” He gestured with his hands at this point. “All for One is losing support and organizations piece by piece. It’s only a matter of time before the League’s base is found out. And I know that the League is All for One’s most precious piece, like the queen, or maybe even the king. And like before, All Might is going to defeat All for One, and Shiggy will be left without the support of the centuries-old supervillain. Then we can rescue your sister and free her and you from Shigaraki’s crusty hands.”

Crafter laughed again, this time more legitimately. “Thank you for that, Seishin. You’re really a cool dude, you know. And you’re not too deep in this yet, and you still have a whole life ahead of you.

“Gods, I sound like an old man.” Crafter sighed, laying down in his bed. “Anyway, I’m glad I have someone to talk to, to make sense of my fucked up life. What about you, why did you join Stain’s group?”

Fuck, he didn’t want to get into a debate about this. The real reason that he joined Stain’s group was to monitor the various villain groups and their progress towards finding Kira. Also known as himself.

But that wouldn’t work. But he’d prepared a reason that seemed to work.

“Well, I am a fan of Kira, the hero that can reach further than any other to catch villains and fake heroes alike. But I can’t reach Kira.” He lied. “So I chose the next best option. Stain. I want to do something  _ real _ in the future, I don’t want to just spend my time going through forums and the Japanese Kira Fanbase server.”

“Wait, you’re a member of the JKF server? Who are you?” Crafter asked, sounding much more interested in their conversation now.

“Corundum.”

“No way dude! I’m Aetherforce4! I think I’ve actually talked to you sometimes!”

“I think so, yeah.”

Did he talk to someone of that name? Probably. He talked to a lot of people on these discord servers (and he finally noticed that people started moving from the forum sites specially built for conversations about Stain and Kira to diskerd servers), and got even more information from them.

“Well maybe we can communicate on diskerd. If you have the proper security this should be better.”

The main reason for this was because diskerd was a very large and very old company, meaning it has a shit ton of data, in the exabyte range. Meaning it would take years for anyone at all to sift through it. That’s one of the main reasons using the internet is so dangerous if you get underneath the gilding.

“Yeah, I’ll add you later.”

This is the start of your private message history with  **Aetherforce4** :

**Aetherforce 4**

Hey, this is C.

**Corundum**

Cool. This is S. I’ll be in touch.


	44. Emergency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days of the Second Death Note user are numbered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah boy this chapter was a struggle. I liked the T section but not the AfO section. I still don't like it but I can't think of how to improve it.  
> Whatever, enjoy this ig.

He feels like there’s something he’s missing.

He knew Kira didn’t kill with a quirk, thanks to Detective Ichiwara, and thanks to Kageyama, he found there was a supernatural connection. This was so far outside the expertise he had, but that’s where the fun was in this case! It was something he’d only seen once before…

That hadn’t been an experience he wanted to repeat.

What was suspicious was that there was a second Kira, who was in Japan as well. With the first Kira, he hadn’t focused on how Kira got his powers. Especially with the whole supernatural element, he’d chock it up to strange supernatural nonsense and focus on finding them. But a second, appearing so soon later? It was suspicious. Perhaps someone was running around giving the ability to remotely kill people. It was a weakness of Detective Ichiawara’s quirk, that it couldn’t detect people who were given quirk effects, such as a quirk that grants others super speed or small amounts of telekinesis. 

And wasn’t that thought worrying, that there could be even more Kiras in the future. But this is only a theory, of course. He had plans in place if more Kira’s show up.

As much as he talked about finding the original Kira to the heroes and civilian forces, he also had to spend some time on the second Kira. 456 deaths, every single day, for three weeks now. It’s the same exact thing every single day, during the same exact hour-long period. That drew more attention from the general public than 387 total deaths. 

All the information he has on the second Kira. S-Kira, for simplicity. It’s more than he has on the first Kira, despite the original being around for longer. Has access to information about villains. Has a very orderly schedule. Lives in Japan. He can’t use news information because of just how much information is available online for the world to see. The only reason he knows S-Kira is in Japan at all is because 78% of the criminals and villains dying to the second Kira are Japanese, and the data on criminals is only available to a few people…

That’s it! The single piece he needed to solve this puzzle! And just in time, he was going to meet with the rest of the task force by laptop. Although it might be time…

“Greetings everyone, I believe I have information on the second Kira.”

_ “Well, don’t hold out on us T, what do you know?”  _ Kamui Woods asked.

“S-Kira has access to extensive villain data, information that’s only available to a select few.”

_ “So you want us to find out who has access to this information and then investigate them?”  _ Midoriya Inko asked.  _ “Several people in this room have access to this information. Are you going to investigate them as well?” _

“We can not afford to not assume that S-Kira isn’t among us, or your family. We need to investigate everyone that can access the full criminal lists.”

_ “You can’t be suggesting investigating each other? We’re potentially putting our lives on the line, you know, and I don’t feel like I can trust you, T.”  _ One of the detectives spoke up.

_ “Yeah!”  _ Another detective spoke up.  _ “I don’t trust you T. It may be a flaw in my personality, but I don’t trust someone I can’t see the face of.” _

_ “That’s because your quirk allows you to determine people’s motives from staring into their eyes.”  _ A third detective spoke up.

_ “Please, everyone calm down.”  _ Midoriya Inko said.  _ “T, do you really think that S-Kira really is someone close to the task force?” _

“It’s a possibility, yes, and it’s something that we should look into. I’ll have agents from the FBI and American underground heroes come to Japan to investigate everyone who could get the information on the Japanese criminals and villains, as well as all of their families.” As much as he hates doing this, it could very well lead them to Kira, which is their main goal after all.

_ “Well if we’re going to start investigating members of the task force, then I’m out!”  _ One of the detectives yelled.  _ “I can get a better job elsewhere.” _

“That’s fine. In fact anyone else who isn’t going to be fully dedicated to this cause and willing to risk their very lives for this cause should leave immediately.”

There was the noise of scraping chairs and lots of people leaving. After the door closed for the final time, he spoke up.

“We’ll begin our investigations, see if we find anyone that’s been acting differently or suspiciously.”

_ “Who are you bringing over to Japan?” Ryutaka Moeru asked. “They might secretly be Kira supporters?” _

“I’ve already brought them over. Seven FBI agents and five underground heroes are ready to start investigating as soon as I give the order. They were interviewed by both Dr. Shinso and Detective Tsukauchi. You are familiar with Detective Tsukauchi’s quirk, yes?”

_ “His quirk allows him to detect if someone is lying or not.” Midoriya Inko spoke up. “And I’m not so sure about Dr. Shinso’s quirk that much, the man keeps things close to his chest.” _

“And I intend to keep that secret, it’s Dr. Shinso’s choice to reveal what his quirk does. All I will reveal is the relevant part. Dr. Shinso can read minds.”

_ “So you had them pass through a lie detector and a mind reader.”  _ Kageyama said in her quiet but sharp voice. _ “Are you sure they don’t have quirks that might mess with Detective Tsukauchi or Dr. Shinso’s quirks? Especially for people working as spies or underground heroes, such quirks might be commonplace.” _

“You are correct. However, I had Eraserhead on standby to erase their quirks.”

_ “I know you can’t give their names.”  _ Midoriya Inko said.  _ “But can you give general descriptions of their quirks? This might be useful if they are going to be permanent adjuncts to the Kira task force.” _

“I’m sorry, but I can’t provide that information. Because there is a 97% chance that S-Kira can find out the general quirk information. And while the quirk registry isn’t public knowledge, it’s easy enough to find, especially the American quirk registry.”

_ “Still, there’s 403 Million people in the United States. Sorting through that would be a pain.”  _ Ryutaka said.

“I think we should stop going down this path, because we may be giving S-Kira information.”

_ “Now, has either Kira said any information about their beliefs?”  _ Kamui Woods asked.  _ “I haven’t seen any information about them directly, mostly just interpretations.” _

“Neither Kira has said anything about their ideology at all. The first Kira has let their actions speak, and because Kira appeared so close to Mechanicus MK6’s video that the original Kira was assumed to have similar beliefs to Stain.”

Looking back at it now, that seemed suspicious. It was almost as if…

“I would like everyone to check heart attack records on criminals and villains, specifically before the release of the Stain Video.”

_ “I don’t get why you would want to check that out. Isn’t that from before Kira started killing?”  _ Ryutaka asked.  _ “Why would you want to check those?” _

“Kira was active before the Stain Video, in fact I am certain of this. Like I said before, Kira is not a dullard. Kira is very intelligent and thinks of the big picture. Kira picked up on Stain’s ideology before the video was released, and had in fact been gathering targets for quite some time. Based on the original spurt of murders, Kira has maintained their current rate of researching villains before Stain’s Video. Search for data a year before Kira’s reveal and the Stain Video.”

_ “I’ll get right on that, then.”  _ Ryutaka said, and then there was the sound of computer keys typing. 

“We’ve come closer than ever before to catching the two Kiras. Thank you all for this meeting.”

Now that he has more information, he can plan his moves for the future. The removal of S-Kira and Stain so close to each other, how would that affect Kira?

Did Kira consider himself a hero? It was very possible. There were petitions in many countries to put them on their hero registry already.

* * *

_ “Tell me Sensei, why are you finding information about the second Kira?” _ Tomura asked him from the computer screen. 

“Easy, I first assumed that Kira was using a quirk to kill, but the fact there’s a second person that seems to have identical powers, makes me think there’s something else at play here.” He admitted. If it wasn’t the effects of a quirk, then what could it be? He’d heard rumors…

_ “What else could it be then Sensei?”  _ Tomura asked, sounding confused.  _ “If it’s not a quirk then what else could it be? Is Kira secretly a large international organization?” _

“I’ll worry about that Tomura. You concern yourself with running the League, and selecting the next targets.”

_ “On that note, I was going through the quirk records of UA students, and I found something interesting.” _

Well, if Tomura found it interesting, then he might as well find out what it is. Especially if it concerns quirks.

“Tell me what you found, Tomura. It might turn out well in the future.”

_ “The quirk records of Midoriya Izuku were altered four months ago. Now this might be just a boring piece of game info, but I think it’s a key plot point. It was changed from quirkless to Strength Enhancement. What do you make of that Sensei?” _

He did watch the sports festival, he’d seen the super strength quirk that Midorya wielded and he had gotten suspicious. This latest statement from Tomura confirmed his suspicions.

“It might be a good idea to keep an eye on him for a while. Actually, let me tell you about the tale of my younger brother.

“So a long time ago, about two hundred years ago, there was chaos. Quirks had just started showing up at this point. Actually they weren’t called quirks back then, they were called meta abilities. Or parahumans, or curses, depending on where they were and what the quirk was. The definition of what it means to be human was changing, and national identities began to collapse. Economies all around the world were falling apart, and millions died.

“At first I didn’t think I had a quirk, but then I sought out someone and was able to take their quirk. I used this power to create order and relative peace around the world. I gave quirks to those who wanted them, and took them from whom their unique ability earned them scorn and anger.

“I also had a younger brother. Sickly, weak, quirkless, but he still fought me. Told me I was stealing quirks, taking over the world, all sorts of villainous actions. Somehow, he raised armies against me, sent people my way. But I was merciful.

“I gave him a quirk, something his weak body could handle. It stockpiled energy slowly, enough for him to maybe be three or five times as strong when he dies. But, there are things I can’t foresee. My brother did have a quirk as it turns out, one that would’ve gone unnoticed if I never gave him that stockpiling quirk. His quirk allowed him to pass his quirk on to others, and that’s what he did.

“Time and time again, the wielders of my brother’s quirk have come after me, failing each time. Except the Eighth wielder, who was able to defeat me six years ago.”

_ “All Might is the eighth wielder of this combined quirk?”  _ Tomura questioned.

“Yes. And the name given to this combined quirk is quite amusing. I’ve heard it called One for All. So All Might is the Eighth wielder, take a guess at who’s the ninth.”

_ “So you’re saying that Midoriya has All Might’s quirk?”  _ Tomura asked.  _ “What do you want me to do now?” _

“Be patient, Tomura, we’ll have time in the future.” He said. Now he had to focus on his main goal, to catch Kira.

As much as he hated to acknowledge the fact, there might be a supernatural connection. Spirits and ghosts and all that nonsense were things he really didn’t want to exist. But, the advent of quirks opened up the gates to these… realms. Some theories said that spirits gave humans quirks. Madness, in his mind. But there are some things that can’t be explained entirely, even in this chaotic age of quirks. And despite his distaste at the idea, he has contact with people who are experts in the “mystic arts”. One of those was an associate of the good doctors, Dr. Ouroboros. 

“Kurogiri, please open a portal to location 347.” He spoke aloud, pressing a button on a panel in the room he resided in. Within seconds, a black portal opened. How fortunate he was to have the warp gate in his service. In fact, without the services of Kurogiri, he may have had to reach out to Silk Road to avoid his organizations dying out.

And like hell was he going to rely on Silk Road. Sure many, maybe even most villains used the American-based smuggling organization, but he would never. He activated one of the few utility quirks he kept, Minor Illusion, which he used to style himself in one of his disguises. A variety of tools was always a good thing in the game, and the rapidly changing game necessitated him being an active player, something he didn’t usually do.

His current disguise was a taller man with dirty blond hair that was tied into a ponytail, small white, goat-style horns above his ears, and slightly clawed fingers and toes, as well as a small tail. For clothing, he chose out clothes many people would associate with “Hippies.” It might be distasteful, but nobody’s going to think he’s All for One in this form.

Kurogiri’s portal opened into an alleyway in New York City. It was a place where he wouldn’t be noticed, it had been scouted ahead of time. A simple block walk to the shop he was going to. “Pit Viper’s Ethereal Emporium.” An unusual name, but the guy knew what he was talking about. From the sidewalk, he saw the various mystical and magical objects in the storefront.

“Ah, Ryukiya Yozukazi.” Dr. Ouroboros announced when he walked in. The name he used in this disguise. He hadn’t been here for years... “What brings you here today?”

“Questions about Kira.” He replied. “Is it possible that there’s some sort of supernatural connection?”

“Ah! Everyone’s been asking about Kira lately!” Dr. Ouroboros exclaimed excitedly, clapping his hands and grabbing some papers. “I’ve been looking through records lately. I haven’t found anything concrete yet, but I’ll be sure to tell you if I have anything concrete. Does that sound good, Ryukiya?”

“Yeah sure.”

Spirits and nonsense like that weren’t in his wheelhouse, so he had people for that, for example Dr. Ouroboros. He quickly went to the alley and went back through Kurogiri’s portal, dismissing the disguise of Ryukiya Yozukazi.

_ “Did you get what you wanted?”  _ Kurogiri asked.  _ “Did you talk to the Spirit expert that you mentioned?” _

“Not at all, Kurogiri. The world of spirits, ghosts and other mystical nonsense is annoying, but unfortunately it seems like we might have to get involved.”

_ “That may be what we have to do.” _

“Very well, I’ll contact the good doctor then.”

* * *

Another 456 people dead.

Sure they were criminals and villains, but many of them were minor criminals and villains arrested for things like property damage or robbery. Most criminals deserve second chances. That’s why his targets are leaders of villain organizations, or serial killers with large body counts, or other carefully selected people. People who are villains by choice.

But while he uses the Death Note like a scalpel, cutting out the leaders of villainous organizations and expertly killing, the other person with the Death Note was using it nearly indiscriminately, which was a major problem.

But the fact so many criminals and small-scale villains were dying so quickly, meant that it’s possible the fake Kira had access to criminal registries, which based on the additional evidence he and T had gathered, drastically reduced the possibilities of people it could be.

If T found out the Death Note existed, it would be much harder to act as the second Kira. Plus, if he had the false Kira’s Death Note, then he could move on and maybe get rid of Ryuk.

He had to thank T for having the information available about the people that were going to be investigated by FBI agents and American Underground Heroes.

_ “Hazaki Ishikoro, Ikayi Tentohaya, Haruto Kenji, Midoriya Inko, Akasho Jiyate, Mikami Teru, Shimura Eikoto, Inate Wakabi, Renjiko Jito, Shinko Tetsuki, Kamito Yuya, and Ryuki Himite.” _

The complete list of people who have access to the types of records that the false Kira was using, courtesy of T. He knew he could cull a few people off this list, people who he could never see using the Death Note.

His mom would never use the Death Note, as well as Inate. The dude would never intentionally hurt anyone. Besides that, the rest of the ten people he couldn’t cross off. Maybe he shouldn’t cross off Inate just yet, who knows what that guy might be hiding? What was the best way to check if these people might secretly be Kira supporters?

Three weeks ago he joined a server with several people who were ardent supporters of Kira, and several of them were nice and maybe not-so-nice hackers. His main goal was to see if these people had anonymous accounts. After all, people get more bold when they are anonymous. (Although people tend to be less anonymous then think). Of course this was a service that used the top-of-the-line security systems, but he had some things of his own.

**Aethion**

Alright, this may be a big favor to ask you, but I need you to do something for me as soon as you can.

Not ten seconds later, he got a response.

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

I mean, you’ve done some research to help me help Kira, so sure dude, what do you need?

**Aethion**

Can you find out the anonymous accounts that some people might use? They’re people in the justice system, with access to critical information, and I think they might be feeding this information to the second Kira.

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

Really man? If this is the case, I do want the second Kira to go down. Feel like this guy’s letting the power get to his head, and he’s ruining the message of Kira.

Damn right this fake Kira is ruining his message. Getting rid of this fake Kira was well worth calling in a few favors.

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

So what’s the list of people?

**Aethion**

Hazaki Ishikoro, Ikayi Tentohaya, Haruto Kenji, Akasho Jiyate, Mikami Teru, Shimura Eikoto, Inate Wakabi, Renjiko Jito, Shinko Tetsuki, Kamito Yuya, and Ryuki Himite.

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

Ah, members of the police force, government, and hero agency managers with high-class access to criminal lists. These people do need to be incorruptible. I’ll get you your list as soon as possible.

He knew 3t9s (the name he made up, as this guy only went by strings of 16 alphanumeric characters, but the 4-character string of 3t9s was present in all of them) was good and knew what he was doing, and for this type of thing, it takes time, so he made an early dinner for himself. This was pretty much the last day he had before his internships, so if he could find the false Kira as soon as he could, so he could take the Death Note and give it to someone who would use it more like he did.

An hour after cleaning up the meal he made, just something simple, there was a notification on his phone

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

So Hazaki Ishikoro has some… interesting tastes in partners, but I don’t think that’s what you’re after. Renjiko Jito is cheating on his husband, and Shimura Eikoto is apparently trying to find a side of his family that he lost contact with fifteen years ago. 

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

But what you’re probably looking for is Mikami Teru. Guy’s pretty creepy when it comes to what he posts anonymously. Might want to check him out.

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

Also, if you get a chance, could I get some quirk analysis on Heyo Nezkti? I think he might be the black hat hacker Erb2x.

**Aethion**

I’m going to be a bit busy this upcoming week, but I should have it done in like ten days.

**3t9s15jksa490akf**

Fair enough dude, it’s not something I need right now.

3t9s seemed nice on the outside, but he knew that crossing this guy is a Bad Idea. He has a name now, Mikami Teru. Sure he has to do some suspect quirk analysis, but that’s par for the course.

It was easy enough to determine where Mikami Teru lived, the prosecutor only lived a fifteen minute train ride away. So what was his plan now? If he planned this right, it was going to be right during the time where the false Kira would be writing names. So if Mikami was the second Kira, then he’d know.

So what sort of disguise is he supposed to use? Not his Seishin disguise, but maybe something else. Bits and pieces of some of his older costume designs, small things he designed himself, and some things he’d found when cleaning up Dagobah beach. 

His “Kira” costume consisted of a tighter fit dark grey jumpsuit, with extra black armor segments that mostly cover his vulnerable parts. Mostly. He didn’t have enough to protect everything, but it’s good enough. He added a forest green cape, because capes are cool. And to finish it off, a prototype of the Seishin helmet. (Well, more like a motorcycle helmet with a voice modulator mask in it, but he called it a prototype helmet.)

All of this fit conveniently in a suitcase, a small amount of dye to change the effective color of his hair from mostly green with some black, to mostly black with green highlights. Combined with colored contacts changing his eye color to a dark brown, and some concealer to hide his freckles, and he was good to go. 

It was highly unlikely anyone would talk to him like this, but he just wanted to be certain.

“Don’t you think it might be slightly dangerous to go confronting this guy straight away?” The peanut gallery, also known as Ryuk, questioned from beside him.

“That’s why I have this.” He gently padded the small suitcase he was bringing with him. “It’s what I like to call a disposable costume. All the parts in here are just prototypes and one step above trash combined together. This is pretty much the only time I’m going to use this costume.”

A single person, an older man, questioned why he was bringing a suitcase with him.

“Oh this is some stuff for my grandma, she needs more baking supplies.” He lied. Lying was easier than telling the truth, and he hated and liked this fact at the same time.

“Alright sonny, glad to hear that.”

For some reason the elderly man’s simple comment sent a pang of emotion through his chest. Thankfully he won’t have to talk to this person for much longer. He got off the right train stop, and then went to a place he’d scouted ahead. There are so many abandoned buildings in the world today, it’s ridiculously easy to find something. He took a series of quick turns to throw off pursuers, and then ducked into an abandoned warehouse, putting on the disposable costume he made, and left to Mikami Teru’s house. 

Nobody seemed to notice him as he made his way over in the twilight sky. There, sitting at a desk, under a slow mutter of “delete, delete, delete”, was Mikami, looking at a list of criminals and villains, writing in something.

Mikami was the fake, then? Well he’d have to thank 3t9s and T for giving him this information.

He took out a piece of the Death Note, and wrote down the name Mikami Teru, and then mentally counted down. 40 seconds later, Mikami clutched his heart and collapsed. 

The window was unlocked, surprisingly, and he opened it and entered.

The moment he touched Mikami’s Death Note, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Another Shinigami, this one more lizard-like in appearance with four eyes, three on the right and one on the left, a thin tail slowly whipping around.

“Didn’t know you’d be here Ryuk.”

“Of course you’d be in the human realm again Fingal.”

“Looks like you two already knew each other.”

* * *

Of course he knew of T, who wouldn’t? T was, after all, the world’s greatest detective. But to have a personal assignment from him? Of course he accepted. Kira needed to go down.

One interview later (he had this weird feeling someone was poking around in his mind, and his quirk was erased thought the interview, save for a few split seconds a couple of times a minute)

His target? Teru Mikami (or Mikami Teru. Right, in Japan the family name goes first). A prosecutor.

When he approached the man’s house, it was eerily silent. Sure it was about 9pm, but he might as well investigate. He found a window open, and he saw Mikami dead. He got closer, and saw that there was a post-it note attached to Mikami’s forehead.

_ “Too Late :)” _

_ -Kira _


	45. Aery

He couldn’t believe he was standing here.

“I can’t believe I got an offer from the number three hero.” He said aloud. “It’s hard to believe I’m actually standing here in front of the Aery.”

“You made it here from your own talents Midoriya.” Tokoyami said from where he was standing beside him. “Tying for third place is no small potatoes. You got here from your own skill and talents.”

Except he didn’t. He got this quirk from someone else, and he probably wouldn’t even be in UA if it wasn’t for All Might noticing him. He needs to be the best hero he can.

“Well, we’re not going to go anywhere unless we open the door.” He moved to open the door, but he was cut off by about a dozen crimson feathers blocking the doorway. “Wait, what?”

“I only have you both for a week, so I might as well start right away.” A voice announced from behind the two of them.

He turned around to see Hawks hovering in midair, wings gently flapping in the light breeze, two more of his “primary” feathers in his hands, acting like swords. “Alright, see if you can bring me to the ground.”

“Right here, in the middle of a city?” He asked. Hawks couldn’t be serious! They’re in the middle of a city, what was Hawks expecting them to do?

“I can keep civilians away, no worries. And this is a realistic scenario for fighting villains. You’re going to have to move fast if you want to keep up!” Hawks yelled out, before beginning to dive.

He only has 10% of One for All easily available, so he’ll have to make it count.

“Tsukuyomi!” He called out. “Have Dark Shadow throw me!”

Tokoyami gave him an incredulous look, but within a second Dark Shadow flew out and grabbed him, tossing him at the rapidly advancing Hawks. He didn’t have that much of a plan yet, but he did get close enough to hawks to grab the Winged Hero and throw him to the ground.

As expected, Hawks recovered quickly, and a second later he realized the position he was in. Sixty feet in the air, and Hawks was flying right towards him. He can’t push off anything in the air.

Wait! All Might used punches to propel himself in midair, almost like flying! He might as well try something like that. He swung a kick and hopefully this would work.

It did, sort of, but it sent him careening over the winged hero, far enough away where he couldn’t grab on to anything except a few stray feathers, which wouldn’t matter in the long run. He did see Dark Shadow striking out at the winged hero, but Hawks was able to dodge, and send about a dozen feathers his way. One impromptu landing later, and he grabbed at the feathers and crushed them. Sure the feathers were hardened, but they broke under the strength of One for All.

“Is this all you have for me?” Hawks asked tauntingly, flying higher in the air. “I’m expecting more out of the hero students that tied for third place.”

People had gathered around, he noticed out of the corner of his eye. Pulling out their phones and recording the sight of two hero students fighting a pro hero, something you never see every day. Hell, he was still in his UA uniform, backpack with his hero costume case, spare clothes, and other things he needs for the one week internship. (He still has to find someone that would fit the second notebook well, and continue finding villains despite his internship).

“No, Hawks, we’ve only just begun.” He yelled back. “Tsukuyomi! Again!”

Dark Shadow grabbed him again, and tossed him at Hawks. The hero did dodge, as expected, but feathers were also sent his way, and only barely dodging around using punches and kicks in the air as improvised evasion. 

Tokoyami (or more actually Dark Shadow), was providing effective support, the shadow attempting to strike at Hawks, but the hero was outspeeding Dark Shadow, despite how ineffective the crimson feathers were.

He finally managed to land a hit on the winged hero when Hawks was distracted with Dark Shadow talking a swipe, landing a kick in between Hawks’ wings. The hero recovered quickly, turning the impact into a dive and swooping back up.

“Not bad you two.” Hawks said. “You’re surprisingly effective in the air, Midoriya, where did you learn that?”

“I kinda just tried something on the fly.” He admitted. “I’m actually surprised it worked.”

“That’s proof enough you’re going to be a good intern of mine, although I do admit I was going pretty easy on you two.

“Anyways, I hope you two didn’t pick me because I am a top-ranked hero.” Hawks said casually, using the feathers he’d left on the doors to open the agency doors.

“I picked you because every second counts, whether you’re fighting a hero or rescuing civilians or dealing with the aftereffects of a natural disaster. And who else to learn about how to be fast then the hero everyone says is too fast.” He said. And this was true, hesitation would result in losing.

“What about you Tokoyami?”

“A hero needs flexibility, to be able to handle any scenario. Dark Shadow is strong, but he has inherent weaknesses. Your quirk is similar in a way, and many of the other major heroes that gave me offers have more well-rounded quirks, and I don’t think they will be good for me as a hero.” Tokoyami replied.

Hawks clapped his hands, seemingly pleased with his and Tokoyami’s answers. “Very well then, I’ll have an intern show you where the changing and training rooms are, I’ll be setting up something that will work with you both.”

And with that, Hawks flew up into the air. Well, that’s pretty much exactly what he was expecting.

“Looks like Hawks has already put you through the paces.” A woman who seemed almost ethereal. She floated an inch or two above the ground, her long silvery-purple hair flowing in the nonexistent wind. Her costume was a simple purple-blue bodysuit, but he found it slightly hard to focus on her for some reason. It was probably her quirk. “I am Ethereal, and I’d like to welcome you to the Aery. The changing rooms are on the third floor, and the training rooms are in the basement. Also talk to Horus about where the rooms you're staying in are, I don’t think Hawks covered that for you.”

“He didn’t mention that.” Tokoyami said. “But I assume that wasn’t on his mind as much.”

“It’s not something he should be worried about.” Ethereal said after a short pause. “You might want to get a move on. Hawks doesn’t like being slowed down.”

“C’mon Tokoyami, I saw a set of stairs over by that way.” He pointed to an unlabeled set of double doors. “I noticed someone walking out of there while we were talking to Ethereal.”

Five minutes later, Tokoyami and him were standing in the main training room with Hawks.

“Looks like you got here a bit sooner than I was expecting. Through the sports festival and our little sparring match, I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of your quirks, but I’d like you two to fight each other. First one pushed out of bounds or forced to concede wins. I do have someone with a healing quirk as part of my staff, but she’s not as strong as Recovery Girl, so please keep it to a minimum.” He swore Hawks looked directly at him when he said that. Although, fair.

Tokoyami and him took positions on opposite corners of the arena, and when Hawks yelled out “Start!”, Dark Shadow immediately emerged from Tokoyami and charged forth at him. He powered up his usual 10% of One for All, and pushed off the ground, Dark Shadow striking the ground where he’d been standing not a split-second later. Getting into melee range was going to be the key to him winning. 

But Dark Shadow was able to retract quickly enough, and strike forward two more times before he got into melee range, but it was bright in the training ground, and he’d narrowly dodged Dark Shadow. He was only a handful of meters from reaching Tokoyami, seconds away from winning.

Then the lights got switched off, the entire training ground becoming pitch black. Something Tokoyami had told him earlier looms large in his mind.

_ “Dark Shadow is weaker in daylight and heat, but easier to control. But in darkness and the cold, that’s when Dark Shadow shows his true power, but he has a mind of his own.” _

The normally calm noises the quirk emits being replaced with an animalistic scream, crimson eyes larger than his head gleaming in the night, the very  _ presence _ he can  _ feel _ , despite not being able to see Dark Shadow. He felt the wind of Dark Shadow’s strike, and it was the only thing that made him avoid the massive claw. It was a pure defensive game until he was finally pushed (more like thrown) out of bounds, and the lights got switched back on, brighter this time, nearly blinding. Dark Shadow screeched and rapidly decreased back to the usual daytime size.

“How did you figure out that Dark Shadow gets stronger in the dark?” Tokoyami asked.

“The training room is quite a bit darker than the midday sun and braziers of fire in the final round of the Sports festival, I saw that Dark Shadow was significantly bigger. So I used a feather to flick the light switch just to test a theory. Let that be a lesson for you, Midoriya. Villains can sometimes turn the tables on you on a moment’s notice.

“Anyway, I think I got a good look at what you can do with your quirks. Tokoyami, you’re training with Horus, and Midoriya, you’re training with Avengel for the morning. And then after lunch, you’ll be doing a patrol with me.” Hawks swooped out of the training room, through a door that was embedded halfway up the wall, probably for that exact purpose.

A door opened from the ceiling, and a figure came flying out. He recognized the hero as Horus. Black wings, birdlike head complete with a beak, feather’s all over his body, talons for legs, and even claws on his hands, Horus had some pretty extreme mutations, although the Raven Hero also has a pretty complex quirk, involving wind and shadow manipulation and voice mimicry. 

Horus was carrying someone in his feet, a woman with electric blue hair in a long ponytail, and a pretty simple dark blue bodysuit. Horus let her go about thirty feet before the ground, and she landed on the ground perfectly intact as if she’d just stepped down from a step and didn’t fall from thirty feet. He noticed her hair was glowing slightly.

“Welcome Midoriya and Tokoyami!” The woman announced. “I’m Avengel and this is Horus. Before we start this training thing, I think you should drop off your stuff in your guy’s temporary rooms.” She tossed two cards at the both of them. “Midoriya you are in room 1223, Tokoyami you are in room 1224. The Aery is a bit of a three-dimensional maze, so we’ll understand if it might take a while.

Calling the Aery a three-dimensional maze was pretty accurate. In order to get to the rooms they were going to stay in, they had to climb up a three-story tunnel (avoiding another aerokinetic along the way).

Alright, so his room here is probably not going to get searched over the week, but he shouldn’t take chances. If he’s not actively using the Death Note, it’s going to stay in the hidden compartment in his backpack.

Other than that, it was simple enough to get everything he needed out, including the spare laptop he got a couple of months ago. (Yes, he did have a laptop in his backpack when he was fighting Hawks.) The security systems he installed on the laptop was enough to make it so that he could browse safely. 

Everything’s set up for acting as Kira even though he’s in the middle of the agency of the Number Three hero. Acting as what the heroes call a villain in the heart of hero society is something T would never expect. If there’s no change in the villains he takes out when on an internship, there’s no additional information for T to use.

He made his way back down to the training room, taking a different route that made him climb up a set of stairs but was somehow faster. He ended up entering through one of the doors at the same time as Tokoyami. Horus had already approached Tokoyami, and led him away to another training room.

“Alright!” Avengel called out, her hair slightly dimmer than it was since he left, but still brighter than her normal state. “Guess I’m going to be training with you, Midoriya. Power up and punch or kick me as hard as you can.”

“Are you sure?” He asked. “You saw what happened in the sports festival.”

She nodded. “I’m good, worry about yourself Midoriya.”

If she says so…

He powered up One for All to around 12% and slammed a kick directly into her stomach.

Flashes of blue lighting arced around for a second or two, and she was pushed slightly back.

“An impact reduction quirk?” He asked, but then noticed her slight smirk. “No, there’s something else, another part to it…”

He noticed a change in her stance and was just barely able to dodge a fist flying his way far faster than he expected, but she also slapped him a split-second later and then her arm moved back slightly, but he was thrown back several feet. Just what the hell was her quirk? Her hair was changing brightness, sometimes it was brighter than other times.

That was the amount of energy she had stored!

She followed up with a flurry of lightning quick punches that quickly depleted her hair. So how is he supposed to fight someone who can channel the energy from the impacts?

Maybe he can try the All Might strategy, just overwhelming her.

He punched over and over again, each imbued with 15% of One for All. He felt slight muscle strain in his arms, but the end result was that he finally got a strong enough hit in to knock her to the ground.

The air felt very energetic and staticy, like what air feels like before a lightning strike.

“So you figured out some stuff about my quirk. I’ll tell you more about what my quirk does. My quirk is called Kinetic Battery, which allows me to store the impact from physical energy and channel it for super strength and super speed.

“Hawks told me you wanted to be a fast hero. Well that’s what I’m going to be teaching you. I’ve been holding back, but now it’s time to show off my real powers. Start!”

The moment Avengel yelled out “Start!”, she charged forward at him. Even with 12% of One for All, he just barely managed to evade, constantly having to back up and even jump off a few walls to avoid getting trapped in a corner. Avengel was fast and powerful, but she did have a time limit. Or rather, an energy limit. For him, One for All was limitless in terms of the power he can wield, but he can only have so much at once.

Then, electricity arced around the entire training room, a small amount hitting him. What the hell was that? The lightning made him freeze long enough that the hero landed a couple of punches that  _ hurt _ . But still, he managed to stand back up and continue evading. He couldn’t strike back, because she would just absorb it, and it took him about 7 seconds last time to overpower her at 15%. There’s no way she’ll let him have that time now.

Any action that would be fast enough to take her down would give her enough energy to fight longer. Her inner battery was too strong to overfill without overexerting himself.

“Trying to outlast me?” She asked, as he dodged yet again. “Well I do have support items to help me out in an endurance fight.”

Three pouches on her belt opened up, and pistons rapidly impacted her. He tried to grab them, sneaking under her guard, but she was able to dodge everything he tried.

“Kinetic impact aids.” She said. “Miniature hydraulic pistons provide me with additional kinetic energy for fights like this. Whatever you use to fuel your power, it’s obviously quite strong, but you’re going to tire out eventually.”

She was wrong on that last point, as he had found out. One for All energizes the body. In his heyday, All Might could fight constantly for days without faltering, as demonstrated when he fought the villain Fortress. So he should be able to hold on for a couple of hours. The packs are small, and she doesn’t have any other places to put power besides her belt. And no matter how efficient the batteries she has are, the pistons will stop eventually, and she’ll run out of power, it’ll just take longer.

This might just be one of his worst matchups, he realized, as a kick he failed to dodge ended up knocking him back several feet, almost hitting the wall of the training room. She absorbs everything he can throw at her, and then send it back right at him.

No, he’s approaching this fight the wrong way. He needs to figure out how to cut down on the time the fight will last.

Step 1: Destroy the pistons.

He rushes in right after dodging a kick, deflecting her retaliatory swing with his right arm, and then getting in close and reaching for the pistons.

He actually managed to shatter two of three in the first strike in, and then got the third on the second. Although he’s definitely going to have a few bruises by the end of this.

Step 2: A trap.

How is he supposed to trap someone who can store force? She currently has enough energy that if she tried to push herself up if he had her pinned, then she could absorb the force he used to hold her down, and then use that to force him off. There’s no options he has but wait. There’s no string or anything else in the training room.

It took him three more minutes to get rid of Avengel’s energy, and then a couple more seconds to get into a position where he could pin her to the ground.

“You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you Midoriya?” Avenger said when she called the fight. “Still, you did manage to get a one-up on me.” She admitted.

“Your quirk… was a pretty bad matchup for me.” He added, slumping to the ground. “Maybe even the worst.”

“You still did pretty well, kid. Now, let me teach you about how to accelerate the speed of your strikes.”

* * *

“How exactly does your quirk work?” Horus asked him. “I noticed that in the semifinals you lost to Bakugo because of the light coming from his explosions.”

“Dark Shadow is weak to light and heat, and is smaller and weaker during the daytime and the summer. Adding in the heat and light from Bakugo’s explosion quirk made it so Dark Shadow couldn’t fight anymore.” He explained. “He gains power in darkness, which is why my costume has a cloak.”

“You placed third in the sports festival when your quirk was at its weakest?” Horus asked. “Well, it makes sense that Hawks gave you a recommendation then. Now, can you bring out Dark Shadow?”

Dark Shadow emerged at this point, brought out by the invitation. 

Shadow emerged from the Raven Hero, the obsidian feathers and costume of the hero blending into the artificial darkness the quirk was creating.

He felt Dark Shadow flow out of him, the quirk leaking out of him and emerging by his side.

“You seem to be treating Dark Shadow as if it’s separate from you.” Horus stated. “Is there a reason for that?”

**“There is.”** Both he and Dark Shadow spoke at the same time. “Dark Shadow has a mind of its own, even more so at night.”

“Alright, so Dark Shadow not only gets physically stronger, but mentally stronger at night?”

“That’s…” He’d never thought of Dark Shadow like that. His father’s quirk, Red Shade, wasn’t affected by the day and night cycle, so his father couldn’t really help with some of the aspects of Dark Shadow. “Actually a good way of describing Dark Shadow.”

“Well, that’s where I come in. I can use the shadow manipulation part of my quirk to darken this room gradually, so you can identify the point where you feel your quirk taking over.” Horus spoke, closing the windows with a gust of wind, leaving only the fluorescent lights as the source of light in the training room.

“Now, let’s begin.” Horus stated. “Remember, tell me when you feel like you’re losing control over Dark Shadow.”

The lights began to dim, and he watched as Dark Shadow expanded while at the same time he felt twinges from the connection he had.

**_“Is this Horus person really making sense Fumi? Is this the best way to strengthen our connection?”_ **

_ “Yes, Dark Shadow, this way we’ll see a very precise point where you get stronger.” _

The lights dimmed more, and then at a point, he felt Dark Shadow jump forward no matter how hard he pulled back.

The shadows were dismissed a second later.

“I think I’ve underestimated your quirk, Tokoyami.” Horus admitted. “It seems like your quirk has a mind of his own. I need to adjust how I do your training. Now, sit down.” The hero sat down and he did the same. “You need to have a deeper connection with your quirk. Now, breathe in.”

* * *

As much as he learned training with Avengel, she definitely was tough. Sort of reminded her of Gran Torino’s brand of training. And his day was only half done at this point, there was still going on patrol with Hawks.

Tokoyami walked in, looking a bit confused.

“Did your training not go well or something?” He asked. “You look a bit confused.”

“I’m seeing Dark Shadow differently, I think.” Tokoyami replied. “Horus has been very helpful with helping me develop my quirk more. What about you and Avengel?”

“Avengel is a tough teacher, but definitely good. At least the agency cafeteria has some good food.”

“I’ll be sure to get some. Wonder what patrol with Hawks is going to be like…”

“We’re going to struggle to keep up, Hawks is called the man who’s too fast for a reason.”

“Well, we will have to see then.”


	46. Patience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip motivation.

“Alright, fledgelings, it’s time for your first patrol.” The winged hero exclaimed. “Let’s see if any of you can keep up with me. If you get lost, you can contact Hakuja no Myojin, she’s the one currently on the con. She’ll help you find your way. Anyway, our main goals with patrols are to reassure citizens that we’re here, interact with them, and just be a presence. You don’t catch as many villains on patrol as you might expect, but there’s definitely quite a few.” As Hawks was speaking, a few feathers detached from the hero’s wings to rescue a dog that wandered into the street.

“Fukuoka doesn’t have a lot of heroes, it’s mainly just the Aery, Erthalic’s Agency, and a couple of independent heroes, so let’s begin.”

It was a very big struggle to keep up with the Winged Hero, even with One for All flowing through his body at 13%. Tokoyami had wrapped Dark Shadow over himself, and was using the quirk as propulsion. Looks like Tokoyami did pretty well in his training with Horus.

He was able to keep up with Hawks, and was even able to help a few people along the way. Hawks had given them permission to use their quirks, and had kind of thrown them into this situation with minimal explanations.

As expected of the Winged Hero, the man who was too fast, expecting everyone to keep up with him. But he wouldn’t back down from the challenge. He managed to keep pace, but by the end of the 90-minute patrol, he felt exhausted. He’d never used One for All for this long before. But at least he knew he could keep it up for that long, in a pinch.

“Quite a good job, fledgelings!” Hawks announced as they entered back into the Aery. “Didn’t think you’d be able to keep pace. Now let’s get down to the less fun part of patrols. Paperwork.”

As much as paperwork was boring, it was essential for being a hero. This was the side of heroics that isn’t portrayed in the media at all, the part that matters. The line between vigilantism and heroics is paperwork. Documenting everything you do, and then sending it off to the Hero Commission. The commission then took care of everything else. Deciding income every two weeks, hero rankings twice a year, and other administratorial aspects of hero work, such as agency management, deciding civilian workers, and plenty of other things. His mom technically worked for the Hero Commission, although there’s not a direct connection. It’s the same way that aboveground heroes are working for the commission.

He’d done four total heroic actions that day, saving someone’s cat from running into the road, stopping someone from breaking a storefront window, stopping a piece of rubble from falling on someone, and preventing some pervert from exposing himself. 

There were different forms for robberies and muggings then there were for incidents without an attacker, like saving the cat, events involving property damage, such as the window breaking or the piece of rubble. That incident involved a seperate form, which would be submitted to determine if negligence was the primary cause of the small bit of building falling.

The forms were very user-friendly, however, and the vast majority of the documents were just fill-in-the-blanks. He had to give props to whoever designed the documents, a lot of thought was put into them.

“Having any problems with the documents, fledgeling?” A voice asked from behind him just as he was finishing up the fourth document. He turned around and Hawks was there, leaning against the wall.

“Nope, this is actually quite easy, although you probably have a greater volume of paperwork to do. Not just accounting for heroic actions, but all the paperwork involved with agency management, even with a dedicated administrator.”

That made Hawks laugh slightly. “You seem to know your way around agencies, Midoriya, that’s not something a lot of people think about.”

“Well, my mom is the agency manager of Kamui Woods’ agency, so I probably picked up a few things about how an agency was run from her.”

“That’s cool. Well I still have got some work to do. Meet me in the training rooms by 4, I have a few tricks to show you and Tokoyami.”

With that parting statement, the Winged hero flew out, probably to finish the stack of paperwork the hero probably has. Even moving at the speed he did, Hawks constantly sent feathers in every direction, to resolve all sorts of incidents as they took place at breakneck speed. He’d been keeping count, and there were well over sixty separate heroic actions Hawks did on his patrol, that he could see. It’s likely there were so many more. 

Well he did say that speed was important to being a hero. Every second in a fight gave you several opportunities to strike, especially because how One for All increased his perceptive abilities. And he had the chance to learn under the fastest hero around, maybe he’ll pick up a few things. But for now, this is a chance for him to rest for a while, for whatever Hawks has planned for him.

Except it isn’t, he has an hour and a half before he needs to be in the training room, and that time can’t be wasted. Rest can come later, he’s got enough stamina thanks to All Might and Gran Torino’s training regime. Maybe he’ll be exhausted enough to finally get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

No, this time is devoted to something else. He needs to find someone to give the second Death Note to. Mikami Teru had almost ruined the reputation of Kira, people cheered when they saw that those killings had stopped. He needed to choose the right person for the note, that much was obvious.

The forum sights were too public for this type of thing. Thankfully some secrecy-obsessed philanthropist spent millions to create the perfect anonymous chat service, Whispers, which had fully anonymous names, two-step security, and all messages and images sent were deleted after 3 minutes. Nobody really knows the creator’s real name, only going by the name of “Null”.

Whatever or whoever created Whispers, it’s services were invaluable, but you couldn’t just download it anywhere, but thanks to the link from 3t9s, he had access to it.

And this particular group was a bunch of Kira supporters, some of the most ardent. Everyone on this server had to have proven they killed a fake hero or villain in support of Kira. On this service, he was a man who possessed a “biological activation” quirk which he could use to cause heart attacks, and proved that he killed a man in Houston. Although he was 80% sure at least one person suspected him of being the real Kira. That wasn’t a problem though, there’s two layers of security for his messages.

The name he used on this chat room was “FalseKira”, so maybe that was a part of it. Hey, he has to have something funny, his life can’t be all seriousness, even though he probably should be insanely serious with using Whispers. He did have two layers of security, so he could afford to have a little fun.

 **Anamarel:** So I definitely think that someone’s out there giving away the powers of Kira, there’s no explanation for the appearance of the second Kira.

 **Aethos:** Definitely, what I wouldn’t give for the powers of Kira. I’d do literally anything.

 **Null:** I mean, I wouldn’t want the powers of Kira, imagine the stress. The world’s greatest detective trying to hunt you down?

 **Gheaden:** Eh, T’s great, but he never did catch All for One, did he?

 **Aethos:** Well All for One is very strong, and All Might did take him out six years ago, remember?

 **Anamarel:** Good point. As much as I support Kira, it’s only a matter of time.

 **Aethos:** Unless Kira can get to T first.

 **Null:** Good point, Kira’s on the back foot now, but if they can catch T first, that means they can go at it unopposed.

 **Null:** We need to get our message out tho…

 **Gheaden:** Well we can share this on forum sites…

He closed the chat room then. Catching T? Can he really do that? Thanks to Principal Nezu he’s already involved in the Kira task force. Maybe he can use this to get to T. From what he can see, the task force is already falling apart because T wants to actively investigate the members of the task force themselves, because of the little stunt he pulled where he got to Mikami Teru first.

But he’d never actively thought of catching T before, mostly on trying to avoid the detective, because he knew that T was a net good for the world. The detective had been around for quite some time, and had put dozens of villains behind bars for life. But maybe Psykos was right, because T was getting closer and closer, and what took T weeks or a month took him days.

But maybe he didn’t have to actually kill T. The world would be all the worse with the world’s greatest detective gone.

But heroes sometimes have to make tough decisions, how many lives could he save if he did this or that. And this was something he couldn’t hesitate with, he’s probably going to come back to the dorm rooms to find that his room had been bugged with cameras and microphones.

He closed his laptop after more fruitless searching. He’d found a few interesting people, and dropped a couple of subtle hints and Whispers messages to people, but nothing concrete. He’ll see if he can get something more significant, but that will be weeks in the future. A delicate process that takes time, but he really wished it could be easier.

Well you’ve committed to the tough road, Izuku, there were two paths ahead of you, and you took the one with stones on the path, dramatic hills, sharp turns, deep pits, and rocks everywhere. You can’t really complain, you were the one who chose to save the world, that’s literally _the_ most difficult path you can pick.

That was the truth. He’d never been one to take the easy path, ever since he was diagnosed as Quirkless when he was 4. This probably would have never happened if the more likely scenario of him developing a quirk happened. In his generation, quirklessness was pretty rare, about 5%. So odds are he would be blind to the suffering around him, and would never have changed the world.

He spent the remaining fifteen minutes putting his laptop back into his room, and then heading down to the training room, making it there at 3:53, seven minutes ahead of time, Tokoyami walking in a minute later. Now all they had to do was wait for the Winged Hero to get here.

It was 4:02, and Hawks hadn’t arrived. Maybe the hero was busy, or had forgotten, but he didn’t think that Hawks was that type of hero. That’s when he saw it, a feather, resting on the ground, seemingly just innocently sitting there. He had a theory that Hawks could sense vibrations through his feathers, and could use them as remote listening posts. That’s because Hawks often acted as scouting and recon in the past couple of large missions he was assigned to. He took off the jacket on his hero costume and walked towards the feather, taking footsteps as light as he could, boots barely making a noise as they absorbed into the mats that made up the floor. He picked up the feather as lightly as he could, and wrapped it in his jacket, gently wrapping it in layers and layers of the reinforced fabric that made up the jacket of his costume, acting as reinforcement. According to the costume designers, his jacket acted as shock absorbing material, meaning that it probably prevented Hawks from using this feather to detect his location. But who’s to say that isHawks’ only feather? The winged hero probably has several more scattered around the area.

He was too far away from Tokoyami to effectively whisper, and he didn’t want to cause any more vibrations. He didn’t have his phone on him, so what should he do?

Thankfully, Dark Shadow appeared and closed the distance. 

“I need you to go and find and destroy more feathers. I definitely think that there are more than just the one.” He whispered into Dark Shadow’s ear(?).

Apparently it worked, because the shadow creature started floating around, looking around and eventually grabbing and crushing several feathers. After the shadow destroyed all the feathers, he handed over the first feather he got to the shadow, who shredded it with obsidian talons.

“Dark Shadow hasn’t seen any more feathers, but why did you ask him to destroy Hawks’ feathers? Aren’t they just the molts?”

“I’m pretty sure that Hawks can feel vibrations through his feathers, meaning that he knows we’re in this room now and has for almost ten minutes. But now we can move around, but we should still be vigilant and watch for feathers.”

“Huh, I didn’t notice that. And Dark Shadow only creates vibrations in the air, and not as much because he’s not that heavy, so you sent him to do the job.”

“But it was your idea to send out Dark Shadow.” He pointed out. “If you didn’t have him sent out…” What would he have done?

“Right, so what now?”

“We wait.” This was a test. Hawks was testing something. Stealth? Tactical ability? Intelligence? “And we should watch out for feathers, Hawks will definitely try again. There’s four entrances, which means we should each watch two. His feathers can be small, but there’s a limit to how small they can be, we should be able to see them as they approach and destroy them.”

A dozen crimson feathers came out of one of the ceiling, racing down towards them. Looks like Hawks wasn’t trying to be subtle anymore. Dark Shadow rose to the challenge however, biting and clawing at the feathers, which swerved and dodged around the midnight claws of the shadow quirk, some being caught, but most managed to evade, expertly twisting and turning. He released the floodgates of One for All, once again letting the boundless energy contained in his body flow through him at about 12.5% of the full capacity, letting the energy spread through his form. With seven feathers heading his way, arcing in a gentle curve. The largest feather looked like it was one of Hawks’ primaries, a full three feet long and saberlike. But no matter how much the feathers are toughened, there was a limit and he could easily surpass that limit with One for All. The feather tried to move away, but he was close enough that he could shatter it, the feather crushed into pieces and dropping to the ground. He repeated the process with the other feathers, but two avoided both his and Dark Shadow’s hands and sliced into his arm. There was a third that tried to do the same, but he pulled a Dark Shadow and bit the feather in half.

Hawks himself arrived a second after he landed back on the ground, the twin feathers racing back into their owner’s wings. “Looks like you guys seem to be pretty well organized, and it seems like you got the lesson plan down. You both have pretty well-rounded quirks, so let’s see how you handle something a bit more intense.”

The hero then grabbed onto some sort of handle that was in the ceiling of the training room. “Alright, let’s see how you face off against something a bit more intense.”

Every single one of Hawks’ feathers detached and started a rapid descent. So this is what Hawks meant when he said that it would be a bit more intense.

Cursing his lack of something like a staff on his hero costume, he started punching upwards, the air pressure slowing the descent of the feathers and disrupting their paths. Dark Shadow lept out, breaking as many feathers as the shadow quirk could reach. However, Hawks regained control over his feathers and sent them flying towards Tokoyami.

Dark Shadow was quicker however, and the shadow quirk formed over top of Tokoyami, acting as a protective shell. His primary focus was dodging the feathers sent his way, striking back when able. And what would happen if a feather got through? Well he’ll just deal with this. But it was a losing battle, small cuts were appearing on his arms from feathers that had gotten too close. (He really should have got his jacket back from where he had left it).

Despite how strong and fast Hawks’ feathers are, they still have to obey the laws of physics, so after narrowly dodging a group of ten feathers, he could be assured that they wouldn’t come back for a couple of seconds.

But there were too many feathers, Hawks was able to send out every one of his feathers, and effortlessly control them. Eventually a couple got under his shirt and pulled down sharply, which jerked him backwards and almost off of his feet. 

He was able to use this awkward momentum to do an improvised backflip, and then dropping to the ground, hopefully crushing the feathers in the back of his shirt, and then running over and quickly grabbing his jacket where it had been discarded.

The reinforced fabric easily sustained impacts from the feathers he couldn’t dodge in time. He really should thank the company that made this. Alright, time to strike back. The training room was tall enough that he couldn't reach Hawks in one jump, but the training room was full of small ledges and handles that he can use to climb up the walls. One leap, and he was halfway up the wall, grabbing onto a handhold he noticed there, which almost resulted in tearing his arms out. Then he kicked off of the wall and sent himself at the winged hero himself.

And promptly slammed into a wall of hardened feathers less than two meters away from the winged hero. Damn, he was so close. Hawks then sent more feathers that criss-crossed behind him. Hawks was trying to trap him up here.

But there were secrets to One for All that he had discovered for himself, things maybe even All Might didn’t know.

Increasing the amount of energy flowing through his body to 15%, he kicked off the barrier of feathers and grabbed onto a second handle that was on the ceiling. 

“Didn’t expect this, did you Hawks?” He asked. How would the hero respond?

“I have to admit it, not everyone goes in for the attack like this.” The hero admitted. “But did you really go in for an attack without support?”

There was a flash of crimson, and suddenly he was surrounded by the hero’s razor-sharp feathers. So this was Hawk’s plan then. Surround him with a barrier of blades. Too bad that Hawks had underestimated Tokoyami, and overestimated the amount of feathers he had left. He’d noticed that Dark Shadow had shifted to an offensive role, screeching upwards out of the corner of his eye. Dark Shadow crossed the entire arena in seconds during the sports festival, and whatever training Tokoyami had done with Horus seemed to have been pretty effective.

“I didn’t.” He replied, and a moment later, Dark Shadow wrapped around Hawks, pinning the hero to the ceiling. “Good job Tokoyami!” He yelled down.

“The shadows aid your bold advance!” Tokoyami yelled back.

He gave Tokoyami a thumbs up quickly before turning back to the winged hero. “Alright, so is this the end of this training exercise? Do we win?” He started to slightly swing backwards and forwards, gently swaying.

Hawks only gave him a smile in response. “Real Villains don’t give up because they’ve been captured, Kiddo. And you seem to have forgotten the compromising position you are in.”

The feathers were still there, hovering threateningly directly at him. 

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the feathers.” He replied, also smiling now. “I planned for this.”

He let go, pushing against the handle when he was on a backswing, dodging through the layers of feathers before the hero could react, and roughly hitting a wall, eventually landing on a slight ledge in front of a door ten meters up. He’d definitely feel this tomorrow. “Why did you put all these handles, ledges, handholds and footholds everywhere? You don’t need them, you can fly.”

“I have them primarily for Avengel and Hakuja no Myojin, but I use them as well, as you have seen.”

“Cool. let’s turn up the intensity then.” He announced with a grin. “I’ve been sizing up this arena this entire time, thinking about the dimensions, and I realized this room is much more tall than it is wide or long. So that means I can try something fun.”

He remembered some of Gran Torino’s training, bouncing around enclosed spaces, reflecting off of every surface. And while there’s handholds, footholds, ledges and handles everywhere, there’s plenty of flat spaces. Which means…

He pushed off against the door, heading slightly upwards and to the left, towards a clear area. And then bounced over and over again off of walls and even the ceiling when he could. On one of his jumps, he aimed for the lights, but a feather impacted him and turned him away. Hawks had freed himself somehow, and was currently fighting Dark Shadow while sending feathers his way.

This awkward equilibrium continued for a couple of minutes, until Hawks managed to pin him to the wall with over a dozen feathers, and then managed to subdue Tokoyami.

“I have to give it to you guys.” Hawks said, sitting on the ground, the feathers returning to the hero’s wings, reduced in size due to many broken feathers, breathing a bit heavier. “That was definitely a fun fight. You have the rest of the day off, today’s dinner is going to be teriyaki burgers. Oh, and you might want to hit up Revival. It looks like you two took a beating.” The hero flew up into the ceiling doorway, a bit slower this time.

The adrenaline from the fight left him, and his footsteps shuddered as he went to the main exit, his legs dragging along the mats that made up the training ground.

“I’m going to take a short rest before I head to the cafeteria, Hawks is pretty relentless with his training.”

“The Shadows need to restore their energy for the upcoming light trials.”


	47. Precision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reveal of the identity of T is going to happen.
> 
> In the next chapter.  
> don't hate me plz.

_ “So this is obviously a step back, but the death of Teru Mikami allows us to know some interesting information about the first Kira.” _ T spoke through the computer.  _ “We should continue this investigation, and expand the list to investigating the remaining people’s families. I've already created the list of people we’re going to investigate, and their order.” _

A list appeared on the screen, detailing who is going to be watched wherever they go, and the way it was going to happen. It scared her a bit, imagining not only her, but Izuku going through something like this? As much as she hated being under constant surveillance for a short period of time, hopefully this would mean ending Kira once and for all.

Unfortunately, very few people seemed to share the same belief.

“I don’t think this is what we should be focusing on.” Kamui Woods said. “Villain activity has been increasing in Musutafu lately, and I think what we need right now is heroes on the ground, to prove that we’re standing strong in the face of a threat like Kira. I will be leaving the investigation.”

“Same here.” Added Death Arms, the muscular hero standing up. “I think Kamui Woods has the right idea.”

People filed out of the office space they occupied, until there were only a few people sitting in the room. Kageyama Tsuji, Ryutaka Moeru, Detective Tsukauchi, Aizawa, (the man’s already a teacher and a pro hero, does he actually ever sleep?), and Dr. Shinso, one of their newest additions, an expert on villain psychology. And of course she was here as well.

_ “Looks like we’re down to only six people. I’ve thoroughly reviewed the files on all of you, and I think you all have done great work for the task force.” _

“Stop speaking in meaningless platitudes.” Dr. Shinso spoke up, standing up and walking closer to the laptop displaying the single letter. “I need something concrete. I’ve already submitted a report on Kira’s psychology, as much as I could. I don’t think he killed Mikami Teru just because he was associated with this task force. There’s more to this, I’m sure.”

_ “That’s understandable, I actually do have more planned, but I needed time and for the task force to reduce in size, thankfully I have had enough of both for an ally of mine to use her psychometry quirk to look into your motives and intentions, and she determined that they are genuine.” _

Psychometry quirk? She’s heard of psychometry before, or psychometrics, or whatever else it was called, the crackpot belief that objects can hold the past history of the people who touched them, and can even hold imprints of people’s spirit. 

But Quirks are getting crazier each day, so a quirk that does something that should be impossible is believable. Even though the idea of someone looking into her soul made her uncomfortable, but if it was for the task force, then she’d bear the burden of having her life be slightly uncomfortable.

“Alright, as much as I don’t approve of people messing around with my mental state, I think you did what you see as right, T.” She asked, speaking up for the first time in this meeting. “Why are you mentioning this right now, though?”

“Yeah!” Ryutaka exclaimed. “I don’t get how anything you’re saying is connected to anything else. Could you explain yourself T? How is this supposed to help us?”

“I’d like to know as well. So far your statements have been scattered and don’t seem to connect. This is highly irrational.” Aizawa said from his sleeping bag. She really needs to convince him to have a better sleep schedule. “So, please elaborate.”

_ “I shall. I believe it is time for us to meet in person.” _

Those words from T shocked her. They were going to meet T in person? Why would T do this? Even T’s faithful assistant, Watari, seemed surprised at the announcement from T.

_ “This information will be kept solely in your own brains of course, please do not write this down or put this on servers anywhere.” _

“Alright, tell us. If anyone else here forgets, a part of my Mind Palace gives me a perfect memory recall.” Dr Shinso said. “Continue on with your explanation, T.”

“You do?” Kageyama asked. “That must be quite the curse.”

“Thank you for saying that.” The doctor replied, releasing a breath as he spoke. “Most people think it is a blessing, never forgetting where you put your car keys or phone or wallet, but I can never forget anything that I’ve done.”

_ “The curse of perfect memory.”  _ T said from the laptop.  _ “Anyway, I got sidetracked. I would like you to go outside and once again confirm that you wish to meet me in person. I will give you further instructions with this.” _

Watari handed her a cell phone, which immediately turned on, giving the simple T insignia, and then Watari left the building. It was suspected that T had someone with an extremely rare warping quirk in his retainer, based on how quickly Watari was able to move.

The six of them went along with T’s instructions, ending up standing outside.

Shota was too tired for this. 

But this involved his students, so he needed to be involved in this. T had suspected that Kira could be a student of his in the past, and he hadn’t heard T drop that line of thinking, so here he was.

Also he was here because his unique quirk might be essential for the final raid on Kira, wherever the supervillain was hiding out. Even if T’s current theory was that Kira didn’t use a quirk to kill all of those people, Kira might have a secret up their sleeve, an ace in the hole, some powerful quirk he hadn’t revealed yet.

“Are you sure about this course of action?” He asked. “Should we meet with T in person?”

“Knowing T, the guy will probably use a stand-in or a body double.” Dr. Shinso grumbled. “I’m still going along with this though, but I have my suspicions about T.”

“Although it sort of makes sense.” Ryutaka said. “Dr. Shinso, your quirk muddles with the mind so maybe T is hesitant.”

“With proper training, it is easy to detect the effects of my quirk.” The doctor admitted. “And I suspect that T has had this training. Plus Eraserhead can erase any effects of my quirk if he finds anything suspicious in my actions.”

Hrrn. Whatever. He’ll go along with this. If there’s any chance that he can get closer to Kira, then he’ll take it. 

“I think the logical course of action is to accept T’s offer.” He explained. This would involve working with one of his student’s parents (potentially two if the younger Shinso’s transfer request into the hero course was accepted by principal Nezu). It’s weird, and usually this type of thing doesn’t disturb him, but it was still strange, because he might have to investigate his students.

“Let’s wait for whatever T is sending.” Midoriya Inko spoke up, agreeing with him. “We will see what he wants.”

Within a couple of minutes, two grey sedans pulled up, and the phone Midoriya Inko was carrying with her turned on, and instead of speech, text appeared on the screen.

_ “Please get into the cars. They will bring you to the Hajime Central Hotel. Once you are located at the hotel, there will be further instructions.” _

Alright, this was getting a bit strange, but T always knows what he was doing. So he got into the backseat of the second car, Ryutaka took the other seat in the backseat and Dr. Shinso took the front. Watari was sitting in the driver’s position. But who was driving the second car? Who knows, maybe someone else working for T. From what he knows about the detective, they have agents all around the world. Hiring a second driver is a pittance for the detective, most likely.

In no time at all, they arrived at the fancy Hajime Central Hotel. This place had a massive hall that was constantly being reserved for hero galas, corporate celebrations, and even HSPC special events. Basically everything in high-society ran through this hotel. Some of the fanciest rooms cost a million yen a night. Whoever T was, they definitely lived the high life.

The six of them got out, and the cars drove into a lot that was there, and a minute later, text appeared on the cell phone Watari gave to Midoriya Inko.

_ “The room is 495. Please take separate elevators and space your times out to avoid people getting suspicious. I will let all of you decide how to divide up the groups.” _

He didn’t care what group he ended up in, and he ended up being partners with Ryutaka. That’s fine, she’s a young hero but she’s very good at her job, and very smart in terms of social media and charisma.

The first group to go up was Dr. Shinso and Midoriya Inko, the second was Kanteyama and the detective, and the last was himself and Ryutaka.

Strolling through the hotel made him feel distinctly out of place, like someone would appear out of nowhere and drag him away for being too poor for this type of place. But he walked like he belonged, and nobody questioned his being there. Maybe they thought he was an eccentric millionaire. Whatever, he doesn’t care. But strolling through the opulently decorated rooms, fancy statues, and an overabundance of gold, jade, and pears. Thankfully they didn’t have to go through any of these rooms, and they ended up in some of the more “economical” rooms, though they are definitely more fancy than anything he needs or will ever want.

It took forty minutes for them to all arrive at the door. This is it, the potential moment where they can all potentially see who T is.

As soon as they walked in the door, a figure dressed in a neon green morph suit gestured with their hands, and his phone flew out of his pocket. Pieces of technology came out of each and every person, into a small box, and then the figure walked into a second room.

“Apologies for this.” Watari said to the group. “We wanted to make sure that there’s no bugs or anything on you before you talk to T. I suppose you understand the need.”

“Of course.” Midoriya Inko said with a smile. “It only makes sense.”

“Well then.” Watari then gestured to a third room. “T is in that room.”

“Please, come in.” The voice of someone who’s presumably T, unobscured by voice filters, came from the third room. “We really need to talk.”

He walked into the room to see who T really was. And he definitely wasn’t expecting  _ him. _

“Welcome, to the first official meeting of the Kira task force. Would any of you like some tea?”

* * *

The teriyaki burgers were actually pretty good. The beef of the burger was cooked to perfection, the teriyaki sauce was put on in just enough to spread the flavor throughout the entire burger, and nothing felt out of place.

One of the doors in the cafeteria opened, and Hawks did some combination of running and flying through the doorway, a dozen feathers flying to the kitchen area and picking up a couple of burgers.

“Hey, so I heard that some people think that Kira is part of your class, what do you think about that?” Hawks asked, leaning back in his chair.

He just barely managed to keep a neutral look on his face, his lip almost twitching. Hawks was the number three hero, so he probably got some information about the Kira case. What was Hawks playing at?

“Should you really be talking about classified information with a hero student?” He asked in between bites of his burger. “That doesn’t seem like anything you should be spreading around lightly.”

The hero just gave a short laugh. “I can share more with interns, Midoriya, and even if I shouldn’t, I mean I already said it so…”

So Hawks really wanted his opinion then? So what should he do here? This is probably a play on T’s part, or maybe it’s just the pro hero being curious. From the data he acquired, younger people were more likely to support Kira’s new world, maybe Hawks was trying to see if he was someone to trust, to confide in, to talk about how to better Kira’s plan.

Maybe, just maybe, this might be his lucky break. But he’ll have to toe the line here. This’ll be difficult, but like he’s never done anything the easy way, and if changing the world was easy, everyone would do it.

“I mean, it’s a bit frightening if I’m honest, being under the microscope, someone judging my actions.” He noticed that Hawks tensed very slightly. There’s something the hero is keeping a secret, it seems. Is there someone watching Hawks’ actions? He’ll see if he can get any more tells out of the winged hero. “But it’s very possible that Kira’s not a student. I just don’t know, I don’t have enough information.”

“Well it’s not like I have any more information than you do, fledgeling, I’m not involved in the investigation.” Hawks admitted. “I’ve just gotten used to being a hero and now I need to adjust to being a hero in this new era of heroics.”

“You don’t think that the heroes are going to catch Kira soon?” He asked, raising his eyebrow. “I mean, look how much T has openly published about Kira, who knows what else he’s found that he’s not telling anyone.”

“You’re right on that front, I guess, but Kira has definitely brought some things to light.”

Was he hearing correctly, did Hawks really agree with some of Kira’s beliefs, or is this just one of T’s ploys? Either way, Hawks was still a hero, so he had to play it safe regardless. If Hawks really isn’t the upstanding hero everyone thinks he is, then he’ll see this boat to the very end. But this could very well be a front.

“I mean, sure it’s good that because of Kira there are less powerful villains running around, but his actions are still illegal. I haven’t really gotten into Kira’s beliefs that much, because there isn’t much at all, much of it is assumed from Stain’s ideology.”

“Well, maybe he’ll make a statement soon. Anyway, you should get some rest before tomorrow. I’m not personally going to train you in the morning, but later in the day we’re heading over to Hosu for some different patrols.” With that, the winged hero flew out into the center of the agency, somehow having finished his meal.

All in all, a confusing conversation. He wasn’t as good at reading people as he thought he was, but Hawks was definitely hiding something. Maybe he’ll find out what it is this week. And if he doesn’t? Maybe during the internships after he gets his provisional license. All he knows is that Hawks is hiding a secret, perhaps from everyone.

He’s going to find it out.

* * *

There was an office on the forty-third floor of the hero agency that was inconspicuous to almost everyone in the agency. Nobody ever bothered with this office because nobody ever has business. The worker there is hardly ever seen from anyone, coming in from out of nowhere and leaving nowhere. Nobody ever talked to this one worker in an office in an out-of-the-way corridor.

So many people would think it was weird that Hawks arrived in this person’s office. He had to give his report to this person. Also known as Director Jitoizumi Kyoryu, an adjunct for both T and the Hero Commission. This guy had maneuvered himself in a very good position.

“So Hawks, in your professional opinion, is Midoriya Izuku Kira?”

“I don’t think so, the kid’s really nice. I do think he’s hiding something, but he’s a teenager! They all hide shit. So I didn’t push it. And I think the fledgeling thinks that something’s up. He’s pretty observant.”

The Director sighed, and looked up from the papers he was writing in. “I assigned you to this task because I thought you’d be able to crack this egg. You stand to benefit greatly if, according to T, the 1.5% chance that Midoriya Izuku is Kira, this is going to be the greatest victory of your career. If you keep up this pace and arrest Stain on top of this, you could even surpass Endeavor. Being not even 23, or barely 23, and being the number two hero? It’s the proof-of-concept that we need.”

Ugh. So was this his new handler? Even more of an asshole than the last. Was the Commission President doing this on purpose? Reforging the metal to his gilded cage? Whatever, he can deal with it. There’s only so long he can be under the Commission’s control, and then he’ll be free.

“Like you said, it’s a 1.5% chance that Midoriya is Kira. We should focus primarily on the 100% chance that Stain is in Hosu.”

This made Jitoizumi stand up, causing his body to shudder. It’s rare that he can make the handlers sent his way react, but whenever that happened it always was  _ trouble _ .

“Hawks.” The director said in a firm voice. “I trust you can investigate Midoriya Izuku for being Kira and at the same time defeat Stain. Any true hero can multitask, surely this came up in your training, multitasking mentally as well as physically?”

It was asked like a question, but he knew to hold his tongue and let his handler rant. It would end up better for him in the end.

“T is gathering a dedicated task force, but I instructed the aboveground heroes to leave the task force, because we’re creating our own. We are going to force T into a position where he  _ has _ to work with us and give us credit for taking the supervillain down. You’re going to be involved. We are going to take any means necessary to arrest Kira. Hope you like your interns, Hawks, you may not have them for as long as you might want.”

That sent a shudder through him. Alright, that’s it. This director crossed a line. Nobody threatens his interns, damn the consequences or whoever was talking to him.

“Are you making a threat to my interns?” He asked, barely keeping the anger out of his voice.

“Might I point out.” The director stated, pulling out a sheet of paper he recognized. His damn contract that expires in three years. Shit. “That we have final say on interns. It may make you look bad if you drop your interns midway through a work study.”

Double shit.

“Fine. Although I have to be careful in what I say, but I think there’s more to him than most people see.”

“That is acceptable, you are free to leave.”

He left, but he left the agency entirely after changing into more civilian-y clothing. He needed a good fly, to reassure himself there were still some things he could do. He doesn’t regret sending an internship request to Midoriya, in fact he was ecstatic when the teen accepted, but a maelstrom of problems followed. Balancing what he wants with that of the Commission and that damn T investigation.

He landed on a rooftop far away from his agency, and pulled out a cell phone, typing on it for a few seconds until he was greeted by a familiar greeting message, signifying the small but of freedom he’d eked out for himself. 

**Welcome, Aethos, to Whispers!**

* * *

His internship was with one of the forty heroes that would accept any interns for work study. He hadn’t done well enough in the sports festival to get offers from heroes, something Shiggy was pissed at him for. But what was he supposed to do? Show that he was actually powerful? Tadeki-sensei would ask questions, and things would be bad for him.

His first day was exhausting, but he had to give it to Akaryune. Despite how different their quirks seemed at first, the heroine was a major help. Despite her being more powerful than she let on, she still had limits. Akaryune’s quirk apparently had some really major drawbacks as well, things she’d pushed to the very limit. And she did the same for him.

But there’s no rest for the wicked, because Shigaraki gave him a call.

“What is it, Shigaraki? I told you I’m not at UA, I’m in an internship with Akaryune.” He said into the phone.

_ “Alright, that’s good. Although I do want to know what you think of the fact that the second Kira was killed off by the first one.”  _

“Well I think it’s proof that despite how powerful Kira seems, that he’s not invincible, and in fact is very vulnerable, because there weren't any major fights associated with Kira in the news.”

_ “It’s possible that the first Kira found out the name of the second Kira and killed them.” _

“How are you so sure that the first killed the second?” he asked, slightly confused.

_ “Look at the patterns of killings, dumbass, follow the days. 456+1 deaths, 456+2 deaths, 456+1 deaths, then only 194+1 deaths, and then zero+2. The first Kira being consistent during the entire time, but then a sudden drop and then a second. I wonder what Kira’s next moves are going to be, especially with Stain’s capture being inevitable.” _

“You think Stain’s capture is inevitable?” He asked. “Stain’s a really effective fighter, and that’s not counting any of his allies that might show up. Plus, unless something changed, you’re still sending out the Nomu. So, why do you think Stain is going to get captured in Hosu?”

_ “Both Endeavor and Hawks are heading to the ward, as well as other top 50 and 100 heroes. Hosu right now is crawling with heroes, and the Nomu I have are far weaker than the one in USJ. Stain’s defeat is going to happen, and we need to plan for it.” _

“What do you think Stain’s group is going to do?” He asked, realizing something.

_ “They don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I suspect most of them will side with us, but the main thing to focus on is Kira. What will Kira do with no allies and no Stain to prop up his beliefs?” _

“You’re going to see?”

_ “Of course. I definitely think Sensei will be happy with my deductions. I’m probably not going to contact you for a couple of weeks, so sit tight and enjoy your internship.” _

With that, Shigaraki hung up. Asshole.

He dropped back onto the bed. This double-life bullshit was going to get him killed eventually. Or captured. Or  _ something _ was going to happen to him. At least he had the support of Seishin, the one person who knew everything and still supported him to some degree.

**C:** we should meet somewhere. I just need someone to talk to in person about… everything that’s going on.

**S:** I mean, I’m going to be busy for a little over a week, but I should be able to talk in person soon enough. I’m not going to be wearing my seishin costume, but i’ll be there when i can.

**C:** Thanks, anything you can do to help is more than enough, I hope I’m not putting too much pressure on you.

**S:** It’s actually not that bad. Seriously, C. If I can help you, I will.

**C:** Hey, if you’re this helpful, why aren’t you becoming a hero student?

**S:** I am a hero, C, just not in the conventional sense.

**C:** Alright, so does three weeks in the future sound good?

**S:** Sure. we should talk in two weeks to narrow down a date, time, and location.

**C:** That sounds great. See you soon.

Somehow, he felt relieved after talking to Seishin. It was just the energy that Seishin had, a heroic energy around him that he couldn’t exactly explain.

His last thoughts before he slipped into slumber was the thoughts of how much of a worse position he’d be in if he didn’t have Seishin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time coming with this fic, and it's high time for a hiatus. But take faith, readers, I will not be taking a hiatus on this work until the end of book 1, so you'll have your content!  
> Anyway, if any of you are fans of the show Miraculous Ladybug, I have a lot of content for that show, so check it out. Have a great day/night, wherever you are! And by chapter 50, the end of Book 1, you will have read something of a similar length of the Jurassic Park novel. Thank you all for reading!  
> -Krym.


	48. Legend

Of all the people that he was expecting T to be,  _ Nezu  _ was not one of them. But there he was standing there, looking at the group he’d arrived here with.   
“I see that you all got here safe. That’s good. Anyway, now we can get to business narrowing down the information on the identity of Kira for real. Please, save any questions you have until the end. Mikami Teru was likely the second Kira based on what the underground hero assigned to his case revealed. Which means that the first Kira figured this out before us and got to him just before we could. Ink analysis on the note the first Kira left revealed that the note was only a couple of minutes old when the hero I sent to watch Mikami Teru arrived. Meaning that it was a close call.

“A detailed autopsy of Mikami Teru revealed that there were no abnormal presences in his body. So this was less helpful than I would have hoped.”

It was Kanteyama who spoke up first, the elderly woman taking a seat and accepting the offered tea. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at Mikami’s body, if you don’t mind. We need to see if there’s some spiritual connection.”

“Two years ago I would’ve said that supernatural beings are impossible.” Nezu replied. “But I suppose people would’ve said the same thing about quirks before they arrived. So, if everything goes to plan, two days from now Stain will be arrested. Aizawa, you teach kids that are about Kira’s age, what do you think Kira will do?”

He sighed at that. What would Kira actually do? “I think from what we’ve seen, Kira has been acting pretty methodical and logical, killing 1-3 villains each day save for the first week in between Stain’s video and your press conference where there were almost fifty per day.”

“Which we believe was Kira stockpiling names until the Stain video released.” Nezu replied. “In fact I’m certain Kira was waiting for Stain’s video to be released before he wrote the names. This, and the methodical times of killing, means we’re dealing with someone who is expert at planning ahead, or maybe they can plan on the fly, but either way we’re dealing with someone intelligent, who is likely to be a hero course student, and is connected with the task force.”

“Kira isn’t necessarily a hero course student.” Midoriya Inko said. “They could have a quirk that’s unsuited for heroics, and while they may have taken one or more entrance exams and failed. Or maybe they chose to abandon heroics altogether and focus their full energy on acting as Kira.”

“In any of these scenarios.” Nezu said, stirring his tea. “Kira most likely sees themself as a hero. I managed to goad Kira into an irrational action by calling them a villain. Obviously this was very early on, and it’s unlikely that such an action will work on Kira again, but it still shows we can get a rise out of Kira. What we need is for some other trigger to occur.”

“Like what, are you just going to repeat what you said before about waiting?” Dr. Shinso yelled out. “All we need to do is interview some suspects we have, with both me and Detective Tsukauchi, and with the two of us combined, we can absolutely clear any suspects we have. Hell, maybe throw in Eraserhead if the suspects want to use their quirks. I don’t understand why you’re insisting on playing this song-and-dance.”

“No! Actually I do!” Dr. Shinso continued yelling, his eyes starting to glow purple. “I can read your mind, don't you forget, Nezu, T, whatever else you want to be called. I know why you’re doin-”

Alright that’s enough. He activated his quirk and snagged Dr. Shinso with his capture weapon. The man struggled against the bindings, but after a minute or so, he gave up.

“I would remind you that using your quirk on me is technically illegal, but as someone who works in law enforcement, you should already know that.” Nezu said, getting down from his chair. “And from now on, you can call me Kizute. And as for the Kira case, I thought I made it clear that I only take cases that I think are a challenge.”

“So you’re not even a real professional detective.” Dr. Shinso grumbled out. “Whatever. I’ll call you Kizute for now, but I’m still not happy about you running this investigation.”

“Then why are you even here?” Kanteyama demanded. “What is your reason for participating in this investigation, Shinso?”

“I’m here to catch Kira, Kanteyama.” The doctor replied. “Why else would I be here?”

“You’re lying, Dr. Shinso.” Detective Tsukauchi spoke up. “And from my knowledge of you, you just want to dissect Kira, and figure out why he did for his own amusement.”

“Silence!” He yelled out, quirk activating, giving everyone an intimidating look. “This is exactly what Kira wants, this investigation tearing itself apart. Whatever your reason for being in this investigation, whether to seek justice or just for your own amusement, we still have an end goal. Now, let’s start with the main points. Nez-Kizute, what is the main reason why we are here?”

“So, while many of you might have personal reasons for participating in this investigation, Aizawa is correct. We need to focus on the investigation into Kira. The singular Kira. At least this confirms that the first Kira and the second one didn’t know each other.”

“Why is that the case.” Dr. Shinso grumbled. “Share us your genius, E-Kizute.”

“Because, if they knew each other, Kira would’ve killed the second Kira immediately, and not delay three weeks.”

“Maybe Kira did that to avoid suspicion?” Midoriya Inko asked. “That sounds like something Kira would do.”

“I doubt that.” N-Kizute replied. “Kira might be a bit morally grey, but even he wouldn’t have let thousands of people die just for a buffer. If that is the case, then it would be very out of character for Kira.”

“You’re right, Kira seems to be very meticulous in choosing their targets.” Ryutaka agreed. “So the first Kira definitely didn’t know Mikami was Kira. What does that tell us?”

“That means that Kira managed to find out that Mikami definitively was Kira before we did.” Nez-Ki, hell, he’s just going to stick with Nezu in his mind. “What does this mean? Well that’s simple. We can now confirm the first Kira has access to information from the task force. Which means we can commence our investigative operation.

“So I’m here to discuss new security protocols, after UA’s work studies, Shinketsu’s mentorships, or the other programs for various hero schools, that all started today. I’ve instructed all the heroes involved in these programs to ask leading questions for the hero course students, to maybe see if we can get some answers. We can use these 6 days to investigate the people from the other courses at the other schools.”

“I can go through UA.” He replied. “But we need to recruit other people in other schools, and quickly, to take advantage of this.”

“Fine then. I will head over to Shinketsu, Midoriya Inko can head over to Seiai, Ryutaka can visit Isamu, Kanteyama should investigate Seijin, and Detective Tsukauchi can investigate Ketsubustu.” Nezu said, shuffling some papers. “Oh, one more thing before you all leave.”

Watari passed around what looked like a wallet. “For this task force, you will all have secret identities.”

“Aizawa, you are now Nisaki Misoyo. Dr. Shinso, you are now Mahoto Hazaki. Midoriya Inko, you are now Hikaya Mikote. Ryutaka, you are now Haruto Nakomi. Kanteyama, you are now Jiyato Himiso. And finally, Detective Tsukauchi, you are now Suyute Mikari.” Of course these ID’s are not valid, and you won’t share these around.”

“Have a great day everyone. You may retrieve your phones and other electronics now.”

Before he retrieved his phone, and after everyone left, he stayed behind. He needed to have a conversation with the principal.

“Do you really think that Kira could be at UA? It’s sort of hard to believe.” He said, sitting down on one of the sofas. “And seriously, how do you have the time for this.”

The animal principal simply walked over to the window and looked out. “If Kira’s at UA, then we need to dig deeper. I have someone in mind already. And as for my time, there’s more to this story that you don’t even know.”

“If it involves my students, I deserve to know.” He said. What was Nezu talking about? He’d suspected there was something going on, and he was mildly pissed off, especially because he’d seen Yagi, Detective Tsukauchi and Nezu talk in whispered tones after the USJ incident.

“It’s not my story to tell, unfortunately. However, I think as his homeroom teacher you should have known. You’ll have to talk to him about it.”

“Midoriya, I presume?” He asked, and the slightest of reactions from Nezu told him he was correct. “I know how much you like playing with people, Nezu, both as yourself and when you are acting as T. Hopefully you can act logically and not play this like a game.”

“I know what I am doing, Aizawa. And I’m doing the best I can to catch Kira. I think we’re closer than ever. But Kira is also close to finding who I am. Our joint personas are getting closer, and soon there will be a reaction.”

* * *

So, catching T?

It was a good idea. He didn’t even necessarily have to  _ kill  _ T, whoever was behind the letter probably had some sort of intelligence quirk, so he could overpower whoever this was and…

Well he didn’t know  _ what _ he would do. Silence T? No, not possible. He knew where several abandoned warehouses were, but having to head over there every other day in perpetuity would quickly get suspicious. He could probably explain it away for a couple of weeks, maybe two months at most, but that’s it.

There’s no other thing he could do, he has to kill T.

He opened the glass door and walked onto the balcony. Now that he knew what he had to do, he could get closer to T, as T was getting closer to him. Two people, locked in a deadly dance, in a winner-take-all fight to the death. Gameboard: the world. The pieces: Everyone else.

He’d checked here before, and there were no bugs or microphones here. He did one last check for any of Hawks’ feathers, but there were no crimson feathers anywhere nearby. Still, he kept his voice to a low mutter.

“I know you want to find me, T, and you don’t think I am a hero. But you’re far from heroic yourself, sacrificing people on a whim. Some people have taken to calling me a god, but I am no god, I am made of flesh and blood, bone and sinew just like most everyone else in this world. You must be the same, T. You may have a smart mind, but you’re mortal just like everyone else.”

“Heh. I’m curious as to how you think you can take down the world’s greatest detective. Hell, it’s a task even All for One hasn’t been able to complete.” Fingal spoke, balancing himself on the balcony railing. “I’m not one for being motivated by boredom as Ryuk is, but I definitely am curious as to how you’re planning on dealing with the detective.”

“We’ll see how much more exciting this world can get.” Ryuk added from his own position on the railing. “Right now this world is so interesting, all these unique powers, this is so much better than the Shinigami realm. But I’ll probably get used to it soon, the novelty will wear off.”

He took note of that. He’ll probably pass Ryuk on to someone more exciting later on.

“I’ve got some decusions to be made, but for now, I think I’ll head to bed. I’m pretty tired and it’s going to be a big day tomorrow. I’m headed to Hosu with Hawks.”

That made Ryuk laugh. “What are you going to to if you encounter Stain? He’s been the main source of your will for quite some time now, what are you going to do?”

“Beat him.”

* * *

He walked out onto the balcony of the hotel room. He’d expected his reveal to not go well, but it’s in the past now. Dr. Shinso’s actions were all but inexcusable, and he might have to seriously reconsider the doctor’s place in the task force. The mental intrusion into his brain had been very uncomfortable, it had reminded him of  _ that _ place.

“I’m sure that you think you’re right Kira, and you think you’re a hero, but we’re getting closer to each other, and nobody escapes my grasp for long. This has been one of the most challenging cases so far, I don’t even have a murder weapon or quirk yet. Maybe you have allies from another dimension, but that won’t stop me. Watari, you’ll be on standby, right? Your quirk will be useful when we raid Kira’s hideout.”

Watari stepped out of the shadows, only instead of being completely covered like he usually was, it revealed an elderly gentlemen. His eyes briefly glowed blue and then returned to their usual red. “You really think Kira has a hideout? Some fortified building that would require a full hero raid? Isn’t it just as likely that Kira is just some teenager using that power in some basement?”

“Think about the amount of support that Kira posesses all around the world. It would be foolish to suggest he hasn’t gathered a force behind him.”

“And what about the dozens of names people across the internet have suggested as being Kira?”

“Naturally I followed up on them, and it was decided that they were all wrong. However quite a few did have criminal records, so it was far from a fruitless search. This will be over soon, I can feel it.”

* * *

“If I’m defeated in Hosu, I want you all to join the League.” He said. While Shigaraki acted like an arrogant manchild most of the time, the villainous leader was pretty intelligent, and was using that skill for good purposes.

“If you know you might be defeated in Hosu, why are you still going?” Dabi asked, sitting up from the ratty old couch they had. “Wouldn’t it make sense to break pattern and head somewhere else for a week or so?”

“I can’t let these heroes dissuade me from my goal. Staying in Hosu is a power play, Dabi. And don’t worry. The three of you and Seishin together have enough pull collectively in the League to change it’s direction. Although there’s something I’d like to tell you. Shigaraki is not the leader of the League, that honor belongs to All for One, an ancient supervillain who can give or take quirks on a whim. That should be all, now I will head to Hosu, to finish my work.”

* * *

_ “What we have here, Tomura, is an excellent scenario. This is the perfect chance for us to recruit allies and get our name out there.”  _ The voice of All for One spoke.

“Do you want me to go out and recruit some people?” Breakin asked. “I may not have as many contacts as Giran, but I do have a few people that I can hit up.”

“Are they any good? Our next raid is going to be only people with levels and skills, Breakin, we don’t need npc’s for this raid.” He replied. He didn’t need worthless NPCs, his failure of the USJ attack was proof of that. Now the next chance they get, it’s time to attack with quality.

“Yeah, I have a few people like that. Especially this one woman that’s been a career criminal like me. So I think Stain’s days are numbered, so what do you think is going to happen after Hosu?”

“His group will either join us or disband, I don’t think Kira will step up to the plate and take charge in this scenario.” He explained. “And don’t worry, it will all work out in the end. Kira is going to end up defeated soon, and that will clear the way for us.”

“You really think that Kira is going to fall?” Kurogiri asked. “He seems like he’s still going strong despite the pressure from T.”

“Oh, he’s going to fall eventually. If it’s not T, then it’s Sensei. Kira has so much pressure on him he’s bound to crack eventually. And what a collapse it will be, and guess what? We will be there to pick up the pieces. Destroying hero society, All Might, and also… him.”

He took out a worn picture he had in his pocket of Midoriya Izuku. Sensei had called him All Might’s successor, so this was going to be his final boss. “I’m going to dig into his past, see if there’s something I can use, a hook I can pull.”

_ “Excellent, Tomura, my training has been going well. So what is your plan now? How are you going to exploit this advantage?” _

“I’m hopefully going to pay Midoriya a visit soon, but we will see what happens after Stain gets captured.” He replied. Hosu is swarming with heroes, including the number two and number three, it’s only a matter of time before Stain is captured. So he’ll have to plan for that eventuality.

“Eventually, all the barriers in front of me will be destroyed, and I’ll be able to achieve my dream! The pieces are almost aligned, and I’m ready to attack!”

_ “Yes, Tomura. In the end, you will win. That’s why I’m doing this.” _

He could barely restrain his smile. This was perfect, everything was all working according to plan. “Are the Nomu ready?”

_ “Yes, there are four Nomu ready for deployment. They’re nowhere near as strong as the one in the USJ, but the good doctor and myself have been working double-time to get these out. So they are still decently powerful.” _

“Good. Even with Hosu swarming with heroes, these Nomu are going to cause chaos and kill many people, exactly what we need to get our message out.”

“You’re really confident in this scheme.” Breakin replied. “I’ll secure some money for you to grease the wheels of your operation.”

“Right. Do that. I’ll send Giran out to see if we can get some more people for this organization.”

* * *

At this point, he was expecting to go into whatever realm this place was when he fell asleep. This time both Fingal and Ryuk were there, as well as two of the past wielders of One for All.

“What is this place?” Fingal asked. “How did we get here?”

“This is some sort of internal place within Midoriya’s special power.” Ryuk replied. “Don’t ask me what’s going on because I don’t know. I don’t even think anyone here knows what this is.”

He looked past the two Shinigami talking about this realm, and faced the two former wielders that were present. The fourth and the third.

“You’re going to be going through some tough trials in the future.” The fourth spoke. “But I can feel One for All evolving, and the flames within are ready to burst forth. I suspect one of our quirks will come bursting forth soon. Whatever quirk you get has been spending time in the core of One for All, being fed by the flames of the enhancement side of the quirk.

“You’re going to be very powerful, Midoriya. And we are all on your side.”


	49. Escalation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the pieces are coming together, and they're all going to Hosu

“Alright, so today’s training is going to be pretty simple.” Avengel stated to the two of them. “Hawks likes to bring in experts for training, so today you’re going to experience training under some pretty extreme circumstances. Frankly this might be a bit much for you, but I’m not the one doing your training. Alright, here you go.”

Almost immediately he felt his body get much heavier, and he could even see Dark Shadow struggle a bit to move around. Did gravity affect the quirk? That’s a problem he’ll handle later. The quirk actually had to wrap around Tokoyami to keep himself standing up, and he himself had to power up One for all to around 2% just to keep himself standing alongside Tokoyami.

“Gravity increased to 500%, and it looks like you two are still standing.” A figure walked out of the shadows, a stocky, heavyset figure. “Well, let’s begin the fight right now.”

The heavyset guy charged forward like he wasn’t affected by the increased gravity, which was extremely likely. But if that was the case, then this man doesn’t have the added force that increased weight from more gravity gives. He powered up One for All to it’s usual 12% and then ran at the man, tackling him to the ground. It worked!

Dark shadow rushed forward and aided in holding this man down, while Tokoyami was just barely standing up.

The gravity soon released, and the sudden feeling of  _ relief _ from having normal gravity restored, it felt like he could almost float off into the sky.

“You did a lot better than I expected.” Avengel commented. “How did you figure this guy was immune to the effects of his own quirk?”

“I noticed him walking in while you were giving your speech, and when his quirk was activated, his gait and movements were identical to how he was before his quirk was activated. And by increasing the gravitational force involved, that means that I have more effective weight, which means that once I get moving, it’ll be much harder for this guy to stop me. And while he’s likely no slouch when it comes to fighting, he hasn’t had the same training as a hero would.”

“Excellent deductions, Midoriya.” Avengel stated. “Hell, I think you could have very easily won the sports festival. Alright, now I want to see the two of you fight each other, starting now!”

He barely had any time to react before Dark Shadow came screeching towards him, racing to try to push him out of bounds. He just barely dodged a clawed fist, and landed a quick kick directly into the shadow’s face. But Dark Shadow was seemingly unaffected, and continued it’s assault, lashing out with claws and bites. Even with One for All surging through his body at 12%, he was just barely able to keep up with the relentless assault from Dark Shadow.

Just what the hell had Horus taught Tokoyami?

He needed to change the tide of this fight very quickly. He released the floodgates a bit more, letting the energy flow through him increase to 15%. Using it at this power, he only had about 5 minutes before something would give out in his body.

The added power allowed him to gain the advantage, slipping past Dark Shadow’s guard, and past the assault entirely, and running at Tokoyami. This was his chance to gain the upper hand.

But as fast as he was even at 15%, Dark Shadow seemed to be faster. The shadow quirk quickly retracted, and then sprung out again at lightning speed. He managed to barely dodge a clawed fist aimed his way, but his forward advance was stopped. The quirk continued blocking every attempt he tried to get past it’s guard, although he was slowly making ground. Centimeter by centimeter, he was pushing the shadow back. Eventually he would be in range enough to reach Tokoyami.

But what he wasn’t expecting was a quarterstaff to slam into his side, knocking him off of his feet and causing him to scramble backwards to avoid being captured by Dark Shadow.

The wielder of what looked to be an extendable quarterstaff was Tokoyami. What a genius move, he hadn’t even suspected that Tokoyami had gained a weapon, despite a slot on the weapons rack being unused. He’d been forced way back by Dark Shadow, the quirk having not wasted even a split second.

He quickly leapt back onto his feet and charged forward. He didn’t have a quarterstaff of his own (yet), but it would be a simple matter to take Tokoyami’s from him the next time he was within range.

And he still had a few tricks up his sleeve yet. He rushed forward again, after removing something from his pocket. He closed his eyes right as Dark Shadow was screaming forward at him, and crushed the device he was holding in his palm.

Even though his eyes were closed shut, he still saw the flash. This was a device he’d gotten from Hatsume, which caused a bright light when crushed. Not wasting a second, he opened his eyes as the light dimmed, rushed forward and yanked the quarterstaff out of Tokoyami’s hands, and went to smack his side in retaliation.

But Dark Shadow had already recovered. It was looking a bit smaller, but it was still able to grab the staff, toss it out of bounds, and then charge forward at him yet again.

However, Dark Shadow was not only a bit smaller, but it was a bit weaker and slower at this point, meaning that he quickly got past it’s guard to grab Tokoyami and toss him onto the mats out of bounds, and quickly depowering. He could already feel the strain from using too much power, his muscles felt quite sore, and the hit to his side still throbbed with pain. He lifted his shirt to see a splotchy bruise already forming. Damn Tokoyami smacked him with that staff pretty hard. Aside from a few cuts from Dark Shadow, that was the extent of his injuries.

“Alright, you two both can head to our nurse, to get you back in shape for our next lesson, which is something a bit less flashy.”

Cool, something new. His body would definitely appreciate it.

* * *

“So why did you accept my internship?” He started. “When I’m sure that you got plenty of offers from higher-ranked heroes.”

He noticed that Iida stiffened slightly when he asked that question. Not good. He may not have children of his own, but he could tell that wasn’t a good sign.

“I thought it might be better to learn under someone lower in the ranks first, so I can get a feel of how agencies at all levels worked, sir.” Iida replied, moving his arms in the same way Tensei does. Heh.

Although that response was delivered a bit too monotone for his liking, like it had been memorized. Or maybe Iida was just nervous. Eh, he can’t make a deduction quite yet, but something was bothering him about this scenario.

“Alright then! Well let me show you how our patrols are going to go. So we have a midmorning and afternoon slot today, and a morning and evening slot tomorrow. Let’s take a look at the different patrol maps, to see where we are going today.”

“Of course! When are we starting, Manual?”

“We will be starting at 10:30. In the meantime, let me show you the paperwork you will most likely see as a hero.”

* * *

“Apologies for the mess in here, you two.” The familiar voice of Kamui Woods announced as he and Shiozaki, the vine girl from 2-B, walked into the Arbor hero’s agency. Admittedly, the place did look a bit unorganized. “A good portion of my staff are… doing something else, including my head manager, so there’s been a bit of a backlog.”

“It’s not too bad.” He replied. Honestly, Hanta had seen worse places before. Much worse. Especially in people’s homes. “What are we doing today?” He asked. He was still surprised the number 14 hero had given him an offer, and to be honest it actually felt good. So now what were they doing here?

“Parkour training.” The Arbor hero replied. “You two both have quirks that can aid in mobility, so let’s exploit that. I hope the two of you don’t mind a quick drive. There’s a perfect place for us to start.”

* * *

“So you fill out the actions you performed, and the Hero Commission uses this to determine your pay for the week. Did you get all of that?”

Ochako nodded. She already had an expert mind for how finances worked. But what she was really wondering was how Gunhead pulled off some of the expressions he did without showing his face.

That’s when her phone rang out with a notification. She checked the text message because it could be important, but it was only Midoriya asking how her internship was going and talking about how much of a hard taskmaster Hawks was, even entering a fight with them before entering his agency. She couldn’t help but laugh. Hawks was so silly to do something like that.

“Who are you texting?” Gunhead asked. “Is it your boyfriend?”

“No! It’s just… a friend! He was telling me about how his work study was going!”

“Alright. So where was I? Oh yes, agency funding. So agencies are actually funded separately.”

* * *

Hawks was staring at a large map of Hosu, with dozens of red pins scattered in it. Currently in the room was a large number of pro heroes, one of the biggest collections of heroes he’d ever seen, and there was also the shadowy figure of Watari standing there, with a laptop that showed that T was attending this meeting as well. All of this to catch one person, the Hero Killer Stain. This was proof that Stain was right, and there needed to be some  _ major  _ reforms in hero society.

_ “I find it very likely that Kira will find a way to support Stain in any potential engagement, so if Stain is spotted, your orders are to engage immediately with full force. The IAVRS considers Stain an S-class villain, which means that lethal force is authorized. Capture him if you can, but if that is not an option, then just know you have authorizations for almost any actions.” _

He couldn’t  _ wait _ for someone to kill Stain. If that happened, Stain would invariably become a martyr, and who knows what would happen. Maybe society can be changed so people aren’t  _ made _ into villains, and heroes could be less numerous and have an easier life.

“I think we should risk angering Kira to avoid killing Stain.” One of the heroes who’s a new arrival in Hosu, Native, spoke up. “Killing Stain would only fuel the fires and will give Kira a massive recruiting ground to gain sympathy and power from people who feel like we’re trying to silence criticism and potentially cover up wrongful actions of other heroes.”

“Native makes a good point.” Manual added. “This is a situation we need to handle carefully and delicately, and killing Stain is a very blunt move.”

“I think you’re too scared of Kira.” Another hero spoke up. “This meeting is about how best to handle the Hero Killer.”

_ “I am cautious of Kira because a lot hinges on how they’re going to react. And I was not encouraging killing Stain, I was just pointing out an option. We have all the resources we need to deal with Stain. By tomorrow morning, we should have Stain in custody. Have a great day, everyone.” _

With that, the laptop was closed, and Watari carried it out of the room.

“Everyone has their patrol routes, correct?” Endeavor asked. He nodded alongside everyone else.

“Actually.” The flame hero said. “I want Hawks and Horus to conduct aerial patrols. I know that Horus has limited night vision from his quirk, but if you need night vision goggles, our agency has a few pairs. Is this agreeable?”

He nodded. It was a very logical course of action. While night vision goggles might mess with his vision slightly, having eyes in the sky was definitely a good idea.

“Don’t worry, Endeavor, we have the necessary recon equipment.”

“That’s good then. And to compensate for the loss of two heroes from ground patrol, I suggest that Avengel and Ethereal from your agency are added to the patrol list in your place. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes.”

“Alright if anyone has any objections, then speak up.” Nobody said anything. “Well then, let’s prepare and head out to catch the Hero Killer, the first step towards killing Kira.”

One by one, they all shuffled out of the room, and he took to flight. Once he was high enough up in the air, he opened a specific group chat.

**Aethos:** Hosu’s swarming with heroes, I don’t think that Stain is going to stay out of jail forever at this rate.

**Null:** Well maybe not, but either way that’s a good thing. Stain will become a martyr.

**Gheaden:** It depends. We will just have to wait and see.

* * *

_ Akaguro Chizome: when captured, dies in transport to Tartarus due to a drastic but preventable accident. _

* * *

“It’s all come down to this then.” Shigaraki said, looking at a virtual map of Hosu, with the location of most of the heroes of the city marked with red dots. “We only have four knights and a queen, while the heroes have over a dozen pawns, eight more minor pieces, and even two queens. How will Stain avoid checkmate.”

“He doesn’t have to.” replied Kurogiri. “Our goals are advanced no matter what happens to Stain.”

“The moment we enter the field, we’ll be in check. We’ll have to move carefully to avoid being checkmated ourselves, especially because of this.” He pointed to a dot hovering in midair. “The heroes have sent out Aetheneros to act as a scout. Our flying nomu can take him out.

“I think it’s time now. Kurogiri, open portals.”

* * *

“Why do you think we’re heading to Hosu, Midoriya? It seems a strange choice.” Tokoyami asked him, the two of the, currently on a train ride to Hosu, the full moon hanging in the night sky.

“We’re probably here to handle the aftermath of Hosu. If Stain’s supporters attack the heroes to support him, this city could become a warzone really quickly. The heroes need as many numbers as they can get.” He reasoned. “We’re almost at the station.”

“Remember, your primary role is rescue and evacuation.” Ethereal spoke from her position on the train, a seat behind the two of them. “Leave fighting Stain and any of his supporters that might crawl out of the woodwork to us. I want to make that crystal clear, you get that?”

“Yes. But do I have permission to attack villains that are threatening civilians?” He asked. “Because it might come up in the near future.”

“If that ever happens, then yes. But hopefully that won’t happen. Hawks might think you’re ready to fight villains, but you’re still children and I’d like for you to not have to fight villains.”

“I guess that makes sense.” He replied. He was fairly sure that something was going on with Hawks that he didn’t know. But that was something he’d take care of sometime in the future. Right now he had only one goal. Ensure that Stain, or Akaguro Chizome as he had just recently found out Stain’s real name, fell into the custody of the police and heroes alive.

But like everything, of course there was another party involved in this dispute, because a Nomu suddenly crashed into the train, causing it to lurch to a stop. “I’ll fight this Nomu!” Ethereal yelled out. “You two get out of the train and see if there’s any more Nomu.” Another hero who had been riding the train with them that he didn’t recognize got up and started evacuating the train. “Why is there a Nomu here?” The hero asked. “What’s going on?”

“The League of Villains is attacking!” He yelled in response. “Tokoyami, let’s get out of the train and see if there’s any more Nomu!” He leapt out of the train and Tokoyami followed suit. The two of them quickly head into the center of Hosu, through alleyways and side streets, until they emerged onto one of the major roads.

And it was utter chaos. There were two more Nomu in the area, destroying the faces of buildings and attempting to kill people. Heroes were trying to assail the Nomu, but the creatures were weathering the assault, and were fighting back effectively. Fires had been started, most likely from the chaotic environment, because Endeavor was effective enough at controlling and directing his fire.

“Tokoyami, see if you can move civilians away from the area. I’ll see what the heroes need. Is that OK?” He asked.

“That makes sense. I will use the power of shadows to keep people from fear. See you soon, Midoriya.” And with a swish of his cloak, Tokoyami slinked into the shadows. “Iida! Iida!” He heard a hero yelling. It took only a second of analysis for him to see that this hero was Manual. Oh no, that’s not a good sign. If he starts connecting the dots…

Oh please for the love of all that is holy,  _ please _ let him be wrong for once in his life.  _ Please _ let him be wrong. Please please please….

“What is it, Manual?” He asked, and it took Manual a moment to recognize him.

“Dauntless! Thank you! I’ve been looking for my intern, but I think he ran somewhere in this chaos. Can you find him?”

“Yes. I will find him, Manual. Don’t worry about it, I already have an idea of where he might be, but I hope I’m wrong.”

Manual looked at him concerned. “Where might he be?”

“I’ll only tell you if I end up being right. But I really do hope I am wrong.” He dashed through the city away from the Nomu attacks. The Nomu attacks were a distraction for Stain. Why the Hero Killer decided to work with the League he’ll never know. It took a solid minute of searching, but he eventually found Iida.

Iida was currently being pinned to the ground by Stain, who was holding a knife to his friend. Native was slumped against the corner, not moving a single muscle. He was right. He’d never hated being so right so much in his life and he probably never will. He was thankful that he didn’t have the page of the Death Note with Akaguro Chizome’s name on him because he would’ve struck two lines though the lines he’d written and just kill Stain here and now.

“Stain!” He yelled out, getting the Hero Killer’s attention, while at the same time slipping his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it with his fingerprint, and quickly sent his location to the group chat. He’d only sent like 3 messages total, so he hoped that people got the message, he couldn’t really type anymore.

Oh wait, he could send a voice message. He tapped a series of buttons that would record the next fifteen seconds of audio.

“You would defend this fake?” Stain asked, pointing at Iida. “He doesn’t have the heart of a real hero.”

“He’s a hero student, just like I am.” He yelled back. “We’re learning! You can’t expect a first-year student to be the same as a full-fledged hero!”

“Hero courses may train the outside, but the inside remains the same. If you’re going to defend these fakes, then you deserve to die as well.”

There was a tiny vibration that meant his audio message sent. Perfect. Hopefully he’ll get some help soon.

Iida had somehow disarmed Stain of one of his shorter swords, so he picked it up. He wasn’t that good at using a sword, but it was better than nothing.

Or maybe not, because Stain through a knife that broke the sword in two, rendering it useless. Damn it, he’ll definitely have to request a staff sometime soon. But he can’t show fear, he powered up One for All to 12%. He’ll go full 15% when other people arrive.

He knows what Stain’s quirk is, thanks to his research into Akaguro Chizome. All he has to do is avoid getting cut.

But the Hero Killer wasn’t making that task easy, drawing out and throwing knives rapidly to the point where even when perfectly dodging, it was all he could do to just evade. Every spare second he could carve out was devoted to trying to lure Stain away from Native and Iida. Stain’s attacks were relentless, the Hero Killer was actually picking up his discarded blades and throwing them again. He couldn’t do this forever, hopefully someone will arrive soon. Stain had stopped throwing knives, and charged forward with his swords, moving and swinging the swords remarkably fast. Did Stain get a speed quirk from All for One? No, Stain wasn’t that type of person that would do that.

He was currently evenly matched, but who knows what Stain would pull out? If Stain increased his intensity, he’d have to push to 15% to survive, something he couldn’t maintain forever.

* * *

**Class 1-A GC**

**Midoriya Izuku has shared his location.**

**Pichu:** Oh… kay?

**Midoriya Izuku has sent a video message.**

**Pichu:** HOLY SHIT IS THAT STAIN???

**Pichu:** Is someone in Hosu?

**Todoroki Shoto:** I’ll be there in a minute at most.

**Dark Raven:** I’ll be headed there as well.

* * *

He dodged a sword slash, and then a second. Stain had pushed him on the defensive, and it was only a matter of time. He’d pushed One for All to 15% about ten seconds ago, but the only thing it did was even things out. He had the advantage currently, but that wouldn’t last forever. And this wasn’t something he could do alone. He was avoiding getting cut by centimeters, and only occasionally landing a kick or punch. He’d managed to snap one of Stain’s swords, but the Hero Killer had more blades, throwing a knife that was so close to his head, it cut off some of his hair. It was only a matter of time before he’ll make a mistake, and all it’s going to take is a single graze. He’s thankful that the jacket of his costume was cut resistant, as the jacket was being torn to shreds currently, but it was protecting his arms, so it was doing its job.

The one mistake that he made turned out to be something tiny, placing his foot in slightly the wrong position, causing him to temporarily lose his balance for a split second. Shit. This is how it ends then. He has plans for his death, of course, but he still doesn’t want to die here. Stain raised the sword, and the final action he chose was to raise his arms in defence. Like hell he’s going down without a fight.

A sudden burst of fire caught him off guard, and he stumbled back, making a distance between him and Stain. He turned around to see Todoroki standing there.

“I’ll be happy to help you Midoriya, just don’t try to do things alone in the future.”


	50. Stain

Alright! Todoroki was here, this was perfect. This was the reprieve he needed. Todoroki could keep Stain at bay at least temporarily. He flipped himself back onto his feet and ran up to Native and pulled him away from the alley where the fight was happening, he picked up Iida on the way, dropping them off out of harm’s way. Iida seemed to protest this, however.

“No… Midoriya. This should be my fight…”

“Then get up!” Todoroki yelled back. “Why can’t you move?”

“It’s Stain’s quirk. All he has to do is cut you and that is enough to drop you to the ground! That’s how he’s killing his victims!”

“I should be able to stay far enough away that I won’t be affected by it.” Todoroki said, covering the entire alleyway in ice.

He missed what happened after that because he’d rounded the corner with Iida and Native, but it ended up that Stain had cut through all of the ice, chunks of ice glittering in the air, and Todoroki was stumbling back, covering his face.

He ran forward to quickly pull Todoroki out of the way of a lightning quick jab with a jagged knife from the Hero Killer. “What happened?”

“Stain pulled out like a powerful flashlight or something and my ice made it worse.”

“Don’t worry, I'll be able to defend you until you regain your sight.”

He picked up two chunks of ice and threw them, and then two more, repeating the process getting faster and faster each time, releasing the floodgates to let One for All flow through him at 15%.

Stain was actually getting pushed back slightly by the barrage of ice, but then he ran out of ammunition and he was forced into a defensive position again, with Stain throwing yet another knife, which missed both him and Todoroki by inches.

Todoroki had recovered, and sent several quick bursts of fire at Stain, followed by a second wave of ice. Stain evaded the fire, and cut the ice down.

“It’s foolish to leave yourself blind to an enemy faster than you.” Stain announced, and then threw two small knives, each flying wide of him, and then a katana into the air, which would follow a whirling, arcing trajectory. He could evade all of these no problem.

A third thrown knife just barely grazed his face, a tiny cut being created. Dammit, all of that was a distraction? Of course it was. The two first knives were intentionally thrown wide, to keep him in the same place, and then the katana served as a split-second distraction.

Stain was immediately in his face, a long and bumpy tongue extended. Stain was going to try to get his blood here. Not happening. He jerked his arm up, elbowing the hero killer directly in the face, a tooth or two knocked loose, and he followed that up almost immediately with a roundhouse kick, knocking the villain almost seven meters back.

“You’re trying to get a taste of my blood, Stain. But you’re not going to get it, because you’re not going to kill any more heroes. I’m going to stop you.” He announced. He was buying as much time as he could, because every second he could buy, it was more time for a hero to show up and tip the scales even more.

“So Dauntless wasn’t just a name chosen because it sounds cool.” Stain replied, quickly getting back up, starting to slowly pace in an arc. “You really do have the power of will behind that name. But unfortunately, your will is weak compared to mine. This is a battle of wills, and I will be the one to triumph.” Stain leveled his katana to face him, getting into a battle stance. “I hope you're ready, Dauntless, because the battle has just started.”

“I could say the same.” Said Todoroki, sending a torrent of fire at the hero killer. “You think you’re fighting for justice, but you only use that as an excuse to kill. You’re no better than Kira. Psychopaths who’ve deluded themselves into thinking that killing people can ever be good. And We’re going to take you down, and show you what true justice is, right Midoriya?”

It took all that was in him to nod in agreement. Did Todoroki really think that low of Kira? It stung, to think that his friend detested his persona this much. Well he will fight no matter his feelings. He can afford to think about these things when he’s not in mortal peril.

Stain managed to dodge the fire, and a second later was charging straight at him. Stain was  _ fast. _ The hero killer was so fast that even at 15% percent use of One for All he was struggling to keep pace, evading the blades that Stain was trying to hit him with and landing hits of his own. But Stain was skilled too, and was able to evade his own attacks.

There was a sharp pain in his left arm that suddenly appeared. Stain had managed to land a hit. He tried to kick the knife out of the Hero Killer’s hand, but Stain managed to avoid his strike, and lick the knife.

Immediately, he dropped to the ground as if his strings had been cut. This wasn’t good at all. What was he supposed to do now?

Todoroki was managing to keep Stain at bay, but that wouldn’t last long. Soon Stain would be able to get the drop on Todoroki and the battle will be over and done. Stain’s just too strong, too fast, and too skilled for him to face. So this is what a real villain is, someone who’s capable of killing many pro heroes who’ve had much more training than he’s had.

But the fire and ice just kept coming, alternating blasts keeping Stain away from his body. Todoroki was firing everything in just the right way to prevent Stain from advancing. A fire blast along the wall to keep Stain from running along the wall followed quickly by a crescent shaped ice attack which both put out the flames and prevented Stain from leaping up into the air. Another ice wall to force Stain to cut it down. A third wall of ice to force Stain to cut it again. Ice spikes of varying sizes to prevent Stain from advancing without leaping into the sky, which the hero killer did, but there was more ice waiting for him there.

If he could’ve moved at all he would’ve been shivering. It’s so cold. Why was Todoroki just using ice at this point? Surely he’d recovered somewhat from his fear of fire. So why is Todoroki not using fire?

Unless he’s thinking about doing something like that? Todoroki’s smart, so he probably thought of that.

The roaring sound of fire, louder than he had heard it over the course of this fight, reached his ears. All the cold air suddenly heating created a shockwave, something Stain couldn’t dodge or slice away with his blade. But when the shockwave hit him, he felt a jolt of intense pain, and he was suddenly jerked to his feet, the effects of Stain's quirk gone. O-type blood was Stain’s worst, so it made sense he recovered first. Alright, time for him to get back into the melee. 

“How did you recover so quickly, Midoriya?” Todoroki asked. “Weren’t you hit last?”

“Yes, but his quirk’s time limit might decrease if he affects more people, or maybe it works on blood type.”

Stain did not reply, didn’t even show a hint of recognition. Damn, Stain was good. He leapt forward to battle the Hero Killer once again. He needed to be careful.

He could feel the strain on his body from overuse of One for All, but like hell that’s going to stop him. Todoroki, Iida, Native, all three of them could die. And who knows who else Stain would be able to hunt if he wasn’t arrested here? Five more heroes? Ten? Twenty? No, he can’t let that happen, he needs to win here and now. Stain once again closed into melee where he darted in, attempted to break a knife or sword, and then darted back to let Todoroki strike back with fire and ice.

An ice blast that went around him and strike Stain, him almost folding himself in two to avoid a surprisingly fast strike was followed with a blast of fire that went over him, and he flipped himself up and landed a second punch, knocking the hero killer back yet again, Stain doing a nimble backflip to be back on his feet.

“No matter what we try we can’t take him down! This guy’s insane!” He yelled out.

“We just need to keep fighting until more heroes arrive. Be cautious, Midoriya.” Todoroki said, sending fire and ice seconds after each other.

“Todoroki, can you try making compressed ice?” He asked. “I want something like a staff that can withstand a hit or two.”

“I don’t think I can make that yet.” Todoroki replied, sending another blast of fire to keep Stain back. “I haven’t gotten that type of training yet.”

“That’s fine, I can handle myself.” He said, raising his fists in a defensive pose. “I think we have a good chance of winning this fight.”

There was a swooping noise, and Horus had arrived, night-vision goggles quickly discarded, and Tokoyami on his back. “Thank you Horus for helping me.”

“It’s the work of a hero, Kid.” Horus replied.

Stain leapt for him again, swinging his katana, but a burst of wind from Horus pushed Stain off of his feet, the hero killer tumbling to the ground before righting himself once again. “Have you deluded yourself so much into thinking that kids can’t change? You’re a monster, Stain, and I will defend these students from you.”

That seemed to be amusing to Stain because the hero killer laughed. “You’re just like all the rest. All talk and no action. You’ll be cut down like all the rest.” The Hero Killer then attacked Horus with renewed ferocity, the hero barely able to keep up, even with his form distorted. Todoroki was sending ice attacks out at Stain, and Tokoyami was attacking with Dark Shadow, the Shadow quirk dancing in and out. “And obviously, you have permission to fight and use your quirks against Stain, or any additional villains that come to support them.” Horus said, taking to the skies with a quick flap of his wings to avoid a swift strike from Stain that would’ve impaled the hero had he not moved extremely fast to avoid it.

But not fast enough, as Stain had thrown yet another blade that was enough to slice the hero’s leg. He rushed in to try to grab the knife before Stain could, and he was unable to reach it before the hero killer could, having to do an improvised backflip to avoid the swinging blade. But he’d bought a fraction of a second, enough time for Dark Shadow, emboldened by the night sky and additional aid from Horus, to reach the knife, crushing it into pieces. Stain still managed to grab a piece of the knife with blood on it, and lick it.

Horus came falling out of the sky, the hero’s wings and aerokinesis failing. Dark Shadow rushed out to grab the hero, while Stain charged forth at Tokoyami, being stopped only for a moment by yet another ice wall Todoroki summoned, but it was enough time for him to sneak alongside the generating ice wall and when Stain broke it, he twisted around and managed to land an attack for the first time in a while, a kick into Stain’s side that knocked the hero killer to the ground, and broke through the two knives in sheaths that Stain carried there.

He was thankful for his reinforced boots, as that kick would’ve hurt immensely if he didn’t have that as part of his costume.

Stain managed to scramble to his feet in time to avoid yet another ice blast from Todoroki, then a fire blast, and throw a bag of trash into Dark Shadow’s face(?) as the quirk tried to advance on the hero killer. Just then, he heard the roar of engines, and Iida had arrived. There was still a knife embedded into his armor, but Iida still looked ready to fight.

“I won’t let you fight my battles for me anymore. I need to own up to this mistake.” Iida said. “I shouldn’t have arrived here to fight in the first place.”

“Yes, you shouldn’t have.” He almost-yelled back. “But that’s in the past, we can assign blame when we’ve gotten out of here alive. All that matters is that you can fight. Can you do it?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t think you can do an about-face that easily!” Stain yelled. “You’re still a hypocrite! Dauntless, on the other hand, you are worthy of the title of hero, you act as a true hero. But I’ll still destroy you here no matter what!”

“You’re even willing to kill who you perceive as a true hero?” He yelled back. “Your beliefs are the only thing that’s stopping you from being a serial killer villain, and now you’ve thrown that away! You’re nothing but a villain now, Stain.”

“Those are some bold words.” Stain growled out. He could see the burning fires of  _ rage _ in Stain’s eyes. “I’ll kill you all, and I'll keep killing until there are only true heroes left. It doesn’t even matter if you catch me here, because Kira will continue my will! So thank you, Dauntless, for making me realize I truly have nothing left to lose.”

Then Stain shifted his stance ever so slightly, and then  _ moved _ . The hero killer moved so fast he could barely dodge out of the way, Tokoyami was currently moving Horus away from the battle, and probably going over to protect Horus and Native. Which left the three of them to deal with the hero killer.

Stain was moving even faster now, relentlessly advancing despite the ice sent his way, choosing not to dodge the fire to get even closer to where he had been standing an instant sooner.

Could he risk going to Full Cowl 20%? He’d probably feel like shit after this battle, but the most important thing was that he would be  _ alive _ .

So he released the floodgates even more, letting the power start to creep up until it stood at 20%. He took but a moment to make sure he could manage the strain, which he just barely could, and then he went for what he called a “Gran Torino Strategy”, bouncing off of the walls and ground, attacking the hero killer from every angle he could reach, while Iida was darting in and out, going for a kick if he could, while Todoroki continued to send fire and ice from long range.

A dozen crimson feathers suddenly whipped from behind the corner, and flew at Stain, adding to the assault, and for the first time in the battle, forcing Stain onto the defensive. The hero killer reversed the grip on his blades, and began attempting to cut the feathers from close range. But Hawks was skilled, easily able to direct the knife-sized feathers away from the steel blades. Two primary feathers followed suit, large sword-like blades that were aiming to impale Stain’s arms.

But two bursts of very bright fire slammed into the primaries from above, burning them into ash in two seconds flat, just before they would’ve reached Stain. He looked up to see where the attack came from, and there were two lanky male figures, one slightly taller than the other, both holding out their right hands, flickers of bright flame disappearing into the night’s air.

“I’ll deal with the fire wielders!” He announced, managing to get one last hit on the hero killer before leaping onto the rooftops after the two of them.

“Why are you fighting for Stain!” He yelled once he landed on the rooftop. “He just admitted to even killing true heroes if it gets in the way of him killing others! If nothing else will stop you, maybe that will!”

“Anyone that stands in the path of his heroic actions is obviously not a true hero.” The shorter (and younger) of the two yelled back, lighting fire on his hands.

“My younger bro’s right. And you’re arrogant enough to think you can handle us both? I’ve taken down a pro hero, kid. You don’t stand a chance.” The older one announced, and also lit up his palms with bright fire.

“In order to protect my classmates and those affected by Stain’s quirk, I’ll do whatever it takes.” He yelled back, and not wasting a moment longer, he charged forward. He needs to incapacitate the two of them as soon as he can, and then rejoin the fight against Stain as soon as he can. Their quirks seem to come from their hands, so all he had to do was wrap them in capture tape as soon as he could, bringing them to the ground as soon as he could.

He dodged four fire blasts sent his way in quick succession, and landed a spinning kick on the oldest brother, knocking him away a full ten meters from the other side of the rooftop. He powered down One for All to 12% as he completed the spin and ran at the younger brother. He could still feel exhaustion coming to his bones. Even at 12%, there’s no telling how long he’ll be able to last before his body decides it’s had enough.

But he’s going to fight as long as he’s capable. The younger brother was able to dodge his initial attack by mere centimeters, and respond with an intense blast of fire that forced him to shut his eyes and quickly move back to avoid it. So they were brothers who had some sort of bright fire quirk? This’ll be slightly easier than fighting Stain, but only just.

Although maybe he’s not the best person to fight these two. In fact he definitely isn’t. The older brother is getting back up and he doesn’t like his odds of fighting the two of them, so he bails off the side of the building, bouncing in between the walls blocking the alleyway until he landed on the ground.

Todoroki, Tokoyami, and Hawks were fully engaged in a fight with Stain, the hero killer on the defensive, but still standing.

“Todoroki! Can you get onto that rooftop to fight the fire quirk users, I think you’d be a better matchup!”

Todoroki created a thicker wall of ice this time, that also acted as a ramp for him to get up the building and the sounds of fire and ice began on the rooftop.

“Where did Iida go?” He asked Hawks, the winged hero flinging even more crimson feathers at Stain once the hero killer managed to slice through the ice barrier like he’d done so many times before.

“I sent him to help with the rescue efforts. Now let’s take Stain down.” Hawks replied, handing him a hardened feather, one of the winged hero’s primaries. “Alright, let’s do this.” An instant later, the entirety of Hawks’ feathers were released from his wings and sent flying at Stain, ones that missed simply stopped and flew backwards at a slightly different angle, creating a shifting prison of blades that Stain tried to penetrate twice, but was unsuccessful. 

Hawks gave him a signal, the slightest tilt of his head, and of course he jumped forward, getting in close to Stain. The feathers were dispersed, and he slammed another kick into Stain, knocking the hero killer to the ground, and a moment after, Tokoyami sent Dark Shadow to hold the hero killer in place.

Hawks flew upwards to aid Todoroki, and he set to the task of removing all of Stain’s blades he had left. There were a lot of them, and they were tucked into the most unlikely places, but he’d ended up taking out over two dozen that were left. Damn were there a lot of them.

The sounds of fire and ice had also stopped, and Hawks descended from the rooftops, with Todoroki and the two brothers in his feathers, Todoroki easily stepping down, the two brothers however were in quirk suppressant handcuffs.

“Alright these appear to be supporters of Stain.” Hawks said. “I don’t know what these people have done before, if anything, but we have them in custody now. This has been a battle well won.”

“Yeah.” He replied, closing the gates of One for All, staggering, barely keeping on his feet. “I’m pretty much about to drop any moment. None of us, except maybe Iida, are too injured. I don’t think.”

Just as soon as he thought the fight had been completed, there was a screeching sound, and a flying Nomu came and picked him up. He’d been exhausted to the point he could barely stand, but he’s not going to let that stop him. He released his hold on keeping the energy locked up, letting it flow through him at 8%. He got ready to push against the Nomu, but it was brought falling to the ground, and he rolled away, losing his hold on the energy of One for All, the energy dispersing again.

Who had taken out the Nomu? He could barely even lift his eyes to see who it was, but he saw it out of the corner of his eye.

Stain had somehow freed himself from his bounds, gotten a knife, and used his quirk on the flying Nomu.

“All of you are fakes!” Stain declared, his menacing aura even causing Endeavor, who must’ve recently arrived, to freeze in fear. “None of you could move into action when this hero student was threatened. He’s the closest there is to a hero worthy of the title, and yet none of you could do a thing. I will show the world what being a true hero is. I will-”

The hero killer froze, his menacing aura ceasing. Stain had stopped, but he was still standing. The air was still, and everyone was silent, waiting for the next move. You could’ve heard a pin drop.

The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was Hawks walking forward and securing Stain.

* * *

Nezu watched as Stain was carted away. 

“What are you going to do, Kira, now that you are all alone? No second Kira to aid you in killing, no hero killer to spread your beliefs. With this final move we enter the midgame, Kira. I wonder how you are going to proceed from here? You’ve been on the back foot for so long, how are you going to regain the advantage?”

What would he do as Kira? That’s what he needed to think like now.

But more importantly, what is Kira’s next move?


	51. . End notes

Alrighty everyone, this is Krym here with some final notes.

There will be a direct sequel! Get ready for Strike Forth, book 2 in the series. I'll be taking a bunch of extra time to do some planning, outlining and prewriting for Strike Forth, so there's probably not going to be an update until 2021.

And as I said before in chapter 13, you might want to check the first word of each chapter title, you might find something interesting :)

To the people who said that there isn't a T in Nezu's name.... there's still a couple of twists that I have planned in that regard. I won't be showing all my cards yet, there's still a couple of twists in that regard.

If you want more Death Note Au in the meantime, and can't really get enough, I'll create a series of One-Shots set in the universe that aren't really that important to the main series, it's just little tidbits of small things in the world. The first one will be sometime in early December.

Here's to the future of Strike Forth!

Also I edited the tags to better represent the content of this work.

-Krym


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